Oriental Congress of Cardiology in China: past, present, and future perspectives

The Oriental Congress of Cardiology (OCC) is an internationally renowned academic conference in the field of cardiovascular medicine, held annually in Shanghai, China, typically in May or June. This year, from 27 to 30 June 2024, the 18th OCC 2024 was held in conjunction with the World Congress of Cardiology (WCC) at the Shanghai International Convention Center, marking the first OCC–WCC joint conference. The event emphasized medical technology innovation, research translation, and lifelong cardiovascular health management. The OCC fosters future-oriented clinical practice and academic debate, supports young physicians, and showcases new technologies and advancements to drive disciplinary progress and innovation. The purpose of this article is to review the origins, current development, and future prospects of OCC, aiming to go beyond mere news reporting. Before 2007, in the field of cardiovascular medicine in Shanghai, China, there were ∼13 international conferences and 3 regional meetings, such as the Oriental Endovascular Therapy. This resulted in some participants agonizing over which meetings to attend and rushing between them, with overlapping content that sometimes had scholars repeating the same presentations, causing frustration for the attendees. Given this situation, as the saying goes, ‘Alone, one goes fast; together, one goes far’. Professor Junbo Ge, then Chairman of Shanghai Medical Association Society of Cardiology, discussed with his colleagues the idea of integrating these scattered conferences into a comprehensive cardiovascular academic conference, turning it into a more brilliant gem. Furthermore, China is located in the eastern part of the world, with Shanghai situated in the eastern region of China. Therefore, this conference is named the OCC based on the principle of ‘rooted in China, facing the world’. Additionally, the conference’s motto ‘open, creative, cooperative’ aligns perfectly with the initials OCC, reflecting its mission harmoniously.