[Human Resource Development for Tohoku Region after Great East Japan Earthquake: Remarks of the Chairperson].

In order to promote further advances of medical systems in the Tohoku region where the Great East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant occurred, the requirement of human resources in clinical laboratory medicine has increased. Therefore, the symposium entitled "Human resource development for Tohoku region after Great East Japan Earthquake" was held in The 47th Tohoku Regional Congress of Japanese Society of Laboratory Medicine. In Fukushima Prefecture, the Thyroid Ultrasound Examination program has been conducted since Oct. 2011. Educational courses and certification programs for thyroid ultrasound examiners were established for medical doctors and technologists in Fukushima. The need for certified sonographers has also increased because deep venous thrombosis is also one of the health problems in the earthquake-hit area. Human resource development of sonographers was discussed in this symposium. In addition, further advances in clinical laboratory medicine are dependent on the development of specified medical technologists and certified physicians. Projects of human resource development currently performed in the Tohoku region were introduced and future actions were discussed.