UAREP

Description

UAREP was established in 1964 - originally to standardize a system for tumor classification. It was started specifically to develop the Atlas of Tumor Pathology and to standardize the nomenclature for description of lesions and diagnosis. It has continued to publish the Atlas of Tumor Pathology jointly with AFIP and ARP. For over 30 years it also published the Registry of Comparative Pathology.

It is a consortium of academic pathology departments who acted to develop expert panels, sponsored conferences on environmental issues: well known for the toxic dump study (Grisham), studies on dioxin, formaldehyde; and has sponsored many scientific reviews in response to governmental and industrial requests.

More generally, UAREP generates teaching aids (mostly recently funding pilot projects in web-based education), has worked to improve cost-effectiveness and efficiency of laboratory diagnostic methods, and has assisted departments of pathology to respond to the rapid changes in health care delivery.

UAREP also serves as an incubator of new scientific societies related to emerging fields of pathology. We sponsored workshops that led to initiation of the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP); provided executive and staff support, use of space and equipment, financial management, and scientific organizational expertise. AMP has more than doubled its membership since its inception in 1995, runs a highly successful annual meeting, publishes (jointly with ASIP) a new journal devoted to Molecular Diagnostics, and has just become a member of IPC.

Two new scientific societies are nurtured at present, ISBER (International Society for Biological and Environmental Repositories) and the Association for Pathology Informatics (API). As both tissue banking and informatics play larger roles in the practice of pathology, these associations will help to develop standards and. training programs, define research goals, and serve as critical information resources for the discipline of pathology and other medical sciences.