Gold Medal Awards of The I.A.P
These medals were introduced by David Hardwick (a former President of the I.A.P.) to be awarded to members of the I.A.P. who have given distinguished service in the cause of pathology, education, or research on an international scale.
Recipients of these
medals have been :
Adonis de Carvalho Brazil Roger Cotton U.K.
Cecilia Fenoglio-Preiser U.S.A.
Natalio Guman Argentina
Nathan Kaufman U.S.A.
Jack Layton U.S.A.
Joe Lee Hong Kong
Antonio Llombart-Bosch Spain
Fatollah (Kash) Mostofi U.S.A.
Christian Nezelof France
Michel Prade France
Leighton Stoddard U.S.A.
Jack Strong U.S.A.
Stephen Vogel U.S.A.
A special medal was given to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, Washington, for their continued and outstanding support of the I.A.P. since its inception in 1906. The I.A.P. Gold Medal nominating committee considers nominations for this biennial award either from individuals or from Divisions of the I.A.P.
The History of Pathology at Charite Hospital
The Teaching Hospital of the Medical Faculty, University of Berlin.
If you think 'medicine' and if you think 'Berlin', some names might pop up in your mind: Robert Koch, Paul Ehrlich, Ferdinand Sauerbruch etc.
Among these eminent Berlin scientists and physicians, one person certainly stands out - Rudolf Virchow. Virchow, was not only well known and highly respected in his time in the medical world, he was also one of the founders of modern anthropology, ethnology, pre-, and early history. Virchow was greatly involved in the establishment of a modern health care, hygiene, school and hospital system in Berlin. He was a devoted and very liberal politician who fought various battles in the Deutsche Reichstag with Cancellor Bismarck.
A group in the Virchow Museum, University of Berlin, Sept 11, 2001: Robin Cooke (Brisbane, Australia), Bruce Williams (AFIP, Washington USA), Bust of Rudolph Virchow on his 80th Birthday), Manfred Dietel (Prof. of Pathology, Univ. of Berlin and successor to Virchow), Colleen Williams and their son Connor and Marian Dietel
Virchow working at his desk.
Former Directors of the Virchow Institute
But above all, Virchow gained his reputation as a physician, as a medical scientist. He was certainly the star of German medicine in the second half of the 19th century. In developing his medical-theoretical ideas, and in following his research programmes, he achieved something that only few individuals in the history of medicine have been able to accomplish: His work offered and set a complete new basis for medicine. With his "Cellular Pathology" he created a new basic paradigm, the paradigm of medicine as a natural science.
Pathology in Berlin began in a modern sense in 1811, one year after the foundation of the Berlin University, at an institution which by then was already a hundred years old - the Charite. The first step was the building of an independent dissection house. At first, dissections were only occasionally performed and then they were done by the hospital surgeons. The first proper dissector was Philipp Phoebus who was appointed in 1831. The years 1831 and 32 were years of a medical disaster in Berlin. Like a tornado, Cholera hit the town with all its might. Thus, Cholera became the first research topic in Berlin Pathology. Phoebus demonstrated its pathological features and he began to collect pathological specimens which formed the beginning of the Pathology museum. In 1833, Robert Froriep followed Phoebus in the position of Charite-prosector. Unfortunately, he was not so keen on performing dissections himself. So he mostly left the job to the surgical assistants who undertook the 'anatomical' work on behalf of the directors of the various Charite clinics. In the late 1830s pathological theory and practice in Berlin were two separate things. While Froriep's task was to organize clinical dissections, the most eminent physiologist Johannes Muller lectured on theoretical pathology.
VirchowÕs desk cleared of papers and presented for Museum purposes with his very small (by current day standards) microscope
Some bound volumes of Port Mortem Reports. The earliest volume in the Institute is from 1831.
One of VirchowÕs handwritten post mortem reports.
A copy of the first edition of VirchowÕs Archives
Another type of deformed head from Sth America - a shrunken head from Ecuador, in the A.F.I.P. Museum, Washington (reproduced with permission of the A.F.I.P.) These heads were war trophies. They were prepared by removing the skull, and shrinking the soft tissues through the use of steam and hot sand. This custom was more prevalent in Colombia, the country just north of Ecuador
An elongated skull from the Amazon, South America - probably donated by Alexander von Humbolt, after whom the University of Berlin is named. This type of deformation of the skull was done in many civilisations including North Africa, Melanesia and Australia
Although Muller never performed a dissection himself, during his Berlin appointment, he contributed to the rise of Berlin Pathology, becaue he initiated the use of the miscroscope for the study of pathology. Virchow became an assistant under Froriep in 1844 and his successor two years later. The year 1846 can therefore be called the beginning of modern pathology in Berlin: "Up to now," as Virchow wrote in a letter to his father, "pathology has not been a scientific topic in Berlin". In his new position, he fought for the exlusive performance of all dissections through the CharitŽ-prosector. He initiated a new dissection technique. He improved the pathological collection and he introduced proper documentation of specimens.. Virchow had to leave Berlin in 1849 because of his liberal attitudes and involvement in the 1848 revolution.
By this time he had published 50 papers on a diversity of topics - phlebitis, thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, leukaemia, pigment cell pathology and arteritis. The years 1849 to 1856 mark a period of rustication, when Virchow went to WŸrzburg accepting an appointment as Professor of Pathology. In this period he developed his concept of cellular pathology. The second and stellar phase of Berlin Pathology started in 1856, when the Prussian government reappointed Virchow as Prosector of the Charite as well as head of the newly established Institute of Pathology which had been built to Virchow's specifications. Virchow contributed not only with his own works such as 'Cellular Pathology', 'Pathological growths' and his studies on inflammation, but he also laid the framework for others to contribute substantially. Starting with one assistant in 1856, by 1900 he had nine scientists working in his institute.
Virchow supervised and promoted the development of three distinct units, a department of chemistry (1880), bacteriology (1888), and the specimen collection, which he called: "his dearest child." He took care that these units would perform collective research so as to be able to answer the most important questions in Pathology. Virchow was convinced that Pathology had to have its grounding in clinical medicine. Therefore, until 1873 he ran his own clinical ward - the closed unit for sick prisoners. He also ensured that the basis of all activities in pathology was the performance of well documented dissections. He himself participated in these dissections until 1873. His department had outgrown its accommodation so he agitated to get a new Institute. This was opened in 1899 on his 80th birthday. At that time his museum contained 23 000 objects. Johannes Orth followed Virchow. His period was marked by increasing specialisation. Some of these specialist units broke away from the main department.
Orth's successor, Otto Lubarsch, became director of the Institute in 1917. Only interrupted for a short time after World War I, the Institute of Pathology remained a magnet for students and guest scientists from all over the world. Lubarsch became famous for his works on synthesis. He published several multi-volume textbooks, as for instance 'General Pathology' and the 'Textbook of Special Pathology and Histology' Robert Rossle, the next Professor, was appointed in 1929. He reversed the trend for specialty units to be independent of the main department. He returned to Virchow's concept of multiple units within the one organisational structure. He was head of department during the disastrous years of World War II when staff left, and the buildings were severely damaged by bombing. There were a number of professors in the post war period of partition of Germany. Heinz David was Professor in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down. Manfred Dietel was appointed to the Chair of Virchow in 1994. His aim is to try to restore the department to its former eminence.
Professor Thomas
Schnalke
Berlin Medical Historical Museum.
