The International Society of Clinical Pathology (ISCP)

Practice of clinical pathology really originated in community hospitals in England and Wales in the early 1900s, more or less being differentiated from teaching hospitals in the major cities in UK. Practioners of medicine in UK and also other countries began seeking employment in USA, Canada and Australasia, foreseeing the dangers of the upsurge in nationalism in some European countries. Therefore, the English-speaking medical practioners did not have any hesitance to establish their national societies of clinical pathology, such as the Association of Clinical Pathologists (founded in 1927, UK), the American Society of Clincal Pathologists (founded in 1923), and the Australian Association of Clinical Pathologists (founded in 1948). However, the French-speaking countries like France, Belgium and a part of Canada had different educational and cultural background, as mentioned previously. The term "clinical pathology" does not exist in those countries and also Germany.

Even among the English-speaking medical scientists, the term "clinical pathology" is understood differently. At the time when the European Association of Clinical Pathologists was founded, clinical pathology was defined as "the application of pathology and its allied sciences to medicine", which was understood in the boadest sense. But it also means the part of pathology excluding anatomic pathology. Some others could define clinical pathology in different ways.

In addition, some changes soon occurred among national constituent societies of the ISCP. In 1952, a new French society called the French Society of Medical Biology (Societe Francaise de Biologie Medicale, SFBM) was founded among the physicians working in clinical laboratories. In 1953, the Czechoslovakian Association of Clinical Pathologists which was one of the founding national societies of the ISCP was dissolved. In 1957 the Australian Association changed its name to the Australian College of Pathologists (later renamed the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia,RCPA), having given up the term "Clinical Pathologists". As pointed out by Dr. McMenemey, one of the leading clinical pathologists in UK, a new "College of Pathologists" which later became the Royal College of Pathologists was formed in UK in 1963 and it was anticipated to take over a good deal of the British "Association of Clinical Pathologists" activities. Internationally the International Academy of Pathology, the International Society of Geographical Pathology and other international bodies related to pathology became competitive with the ISCP. Although the ISCP initial leaders (including Sir Alexander Flemming,UK) tried to take a leadership in WHO and the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS), it never succeeded in establishing its distinct position.

In Japan, also, the term "clinical pathology" has resulted in massive debate. The modern medicine in Japan was imported at the Meiji era from Germany, and pathologists or anatomic pathologists have never accepted the term clinical pathology which was a new discipline of pathology introduced into Japan after the Second World War mainly from the United States of America.

As indicated previously, the British delegations always insisted that the ISCP membership should open to national bodies, the membership of which was confined to the persons holding medical qualifications. However, in the French-speaking countries, laboratory works have been traditionally directed by clinical biologists, mostly pharmacists. In addition, throughout the world, the roles of non-physician scientists in clinical laboratories have been increasing more and more in medicine.

The major problems related to the ISCP mentioned above resulted in the necessity of alteration of the Rules of the ISCP which had been discussed repeatedly since 1958, and in 1966 the ISCP Bureau decided to form a Special Committee for Revision of the Rules of the ISCP, chaired by Dr. John J Andujar (USA). The Committee recommended to the ISCP Bureau and Council the following major changes; (1) Change of the name of the Society, (2) Reconstitution to an Association of national societies, its Council being consisted of the representatives of national constituent societies, and (3) Election of officers.