Monthy Slide Conference of the Korean Society of Pathologists: A Historical Review on it's 30-year Anniversary

Chi, Je G

Abstract

A brief historical review of our monthly slide conference (MSC) was made. These conferences were begun by several pathologists in Seoul in 1959 under the name of "Monthly Meeting of Seoul Pathologists" acting on a proposal of Dr. Kristen Arnesen. Dr. Arnesen, a Scandinavian pathologist, was the first head of the Department of Pathology of the National Medical Center (NMC), which had been established in 1958 by the joint efforts of the U.N.Korean Reconstruction Agency, the goverments of the three Scandinavian countries and the goverment of the Republic of Korea. Seoul National University, Yonsei University, National Medical Center and Holy Ghost Medical College (now Catholic Medical College) were the first 4 participants who joined the conference from the beginning, and the conferences were held at Seoul National University or at the NMC. This conference was incorporated into the official academic activity of the Korean Society of Pathologists by 1965. The history of MSC was arbitrarily divided into five developmental stages: the first stage (1959-1960), second stage (1961-1963), third stage (1964-1970), fourth stage (1971-1983) and the fifth stage (1984-1988). The number of participating institutions increased to 11 by the end of 1973, 24 by the end of 1983 and 41 by the end of 1988. The total number of cases discussed at the MSC was 1,805 by the end of 1988. An average 100 members have participated each month in the meeting since 1980, and a total of 65 slide sets have been distributed since 1986. This conference has contributed enormously in training resident pathologists and refining diagnostic skills of specialist pathologists. It has become one of the most interesting and eagerly-awaited meeting of the Korean Society of Pathologists. It is author's hope that this brief overview may convey some inspiration to our young pathologist collegues and instigate increased efforts to refine their diagnostic skills and also to explore the vast and, as yet, unsolved problems in the pathology field in this country.