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.