Since its beginning, Professor Reber and his colleagues in the Department of Surgery at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine in Los Angeles, California, have been pleased to host the International Observers. To date nine of these brilliant and committed young men have spent time at UCLA where they have been integrated into the daily routine of the UCLA Center for Pancreatic Diseases. This includes 4-5 operative days/week, daily working rounds on inpatients with Resident and attending staff, Pancreas surgery clinic patient visits with Professor Reber and colleagues, and 2 multidisciplinary teaching conferences weekly. Here, interactive discussions among pancreatic surgeons, gastroenterologists, medical and radiation oncologists, gastrointestinal radiologists, and pancreatic pathologists make for stimulating and informative teaching. This approach to patient management and the logic of our treatment rationale become clear in these exciting sessions. Operative experience varies from patients with problems relating to acute and chronic pancreatitis to those with malignant diseases, and includes all current surgical approaches to the pancreas. Opportunities exist for the Japanese Observer to engage in clinical research and basic science investigation in the well funded research laboratories of the Hirshberg Pancreatic Cancer Translational Research Laboratories at UCLA. Dr. Reber’s colleagues in the Pancreas Program are Dr. Joe Hines, Chief of UCLA General Surgery and former President of the Society of University Surgeons, and Dr. Tim Donahue now the Chief of the Gastrointestinal and Pancreatic Surgery Section. Dr. Donahue also runs a well funded laboratory investigating various aspects of the molecular basis of pancreatic cancer. In addition to the educational aspects of the UCLA pancreatic surgical experience, the Observers have the opportunity to take advantage of the geography and extraordinary activities that the southern California area provides.