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“Best time in Kyoto to create cleft history!”

The 15th International Congress on Cleft Palate and Related Craniofacial Anomalies (CLEFT2025) will be held at Kyoto International Conference Hall (Kyoto, Japan) from October 20 to 24, 2025. The theme of the conference is "Best time in Kyoto to create cleft history!” Cleft palate treatment requires the collaboration of medical professionals and researchers from various fields. The conference is attended by medical professionals and researchers from more than 120 countries around the world, and each meeting generates lively discussions and international exchanges. To "deepen multidisciplinary and international collaboration," our goal is to "make history in cleft palate treatment" in Kyoto, Japan.

The First International Congress on Cleft Palate and Related Craniofacial Anomalies was held in Houston, Texas, USA, April 13-17, 1969. Since then, it has steadily grown in stature as the leading international conference on cleft palate and related craniofacial anomalies. It has also become a forum for raising global issues and discussing them on an international level, such as cleft palate surgery education, the establishment of cleft palate centers, and volunteerism. Over the years, treatment teams from around the world have presented their techniques and treatment results at this conference. In addition, it has facilitated long-term projects in which treatment teams from around the world have reviewed their treatment programs and analyzed and studied pathologies from a large number of patients. These collaborations have resulted in multi-institutional studies such as Eurocleft, the European cleft palate society, and volunteer missions that combine the skills of surgeons, orthodontists, and speech pathologists from different countries to assist developing countries with cleft palate treatment.

The Congress has always maintained an interdisciplinary character, holding separate meetings for each specialty, while at the same time emphasizing the need for each specialty to understand each other's practices. Experts in every field have advocated their views and clarified key points. Eventually, all participants became aware of each specialty's issues and how multiple specialties can work together to achieve ideal outcomes for cleft palate patients. Initially, the conference focused solely on cleft palate, but eventually transitioned to include cleft palate and related maxillofacial anomalies. This reflected a major development in the field of craniofacial surgery, and indeed the notion that cleft palate itself is a craniofacial disorder; the second Congress in 1973 featured pioneering research on the craniofacial field, and the Congress name began to include the theme of craniofacial abnormalities. Beginning with the seventh convention, ten scholarships were awarded to encourage young medical professionals to present their research. It is our goal that this tradition will be carried on at all subsequent congresses.

The Japanese Cleft Palate Society has continued its efforts to bid for the conference, and as a result of the 2017 elections in Chennai, India, Japan was given the honor of hosting this conference for the first time. The Japanese Cleft Palate Association will make every effort to prepare for the conference, but we understand that there may be many things that we are not fully prepared for as this will be the first time to host the conference. We would appreciate your guidance and encouragement. Finally, I would like to offer my best wishes for the continued health and success of everyone involved.