Psychoneuroimmunology goes East: Development of the PNIRS China affiliate and its expansion into PNIRS Asia-Pacific .

The Psychoneuroimmunology Research Society (PNIRS) created an official Chinese regional affiliate in 2012, designated PNIRS _China . Now, just eight years later, the program has been so successful in advancing the science of psychoneuroimmunology that it has expanded to the whole of Asia-Oceania. In 2017, PNIRS _China became PNIRS _Asia-Pacific . Between 2012 and 2019, this outreach affiliate of PNIRS organized seven symposia at major scientific meetings in China as well as nine others in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. This paper summarizes the remarkable growth of PNIRS _Asia-Pacific . Here, regional experts who have been instrumental in organizing these PNIRS _Asia-Pacific symposia briefly review and share their views about the past, present and future state of psychoneuroimmunology research in China, Taiwan, Australia and Japan. The newest initiative of PNIRS _Asia-Pacific is connecting Asia-Pacific laboratories with those in Western countries through a simple web-based registration system. These efforts not only contribute to the efforts of PNIRS to serve a truly global scientific society but also to answer the imperative call of increasing diversity in our science.
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