INTRODUCTION
The Preamble of The ISP Constitution
(last version accepted at the 4th ISP Congress in
Budapest, 2002) states that “Pathophysiology is a modern
integrative biomedical science founded on basic and clinical
research that is concerned with the mechanisms responsible
for the initiation, development, and treatment of
pathological processes in humans and animals. The
International Society for Pathophysiology (ISP) ….. is a
non-governmental, non-profit organization uniting
specialists of experimental physiology, clinical medicine
and modern biology who work on the problems of human and
animal pathophysiology. The ISP cooperates with related
international scientific societies and associations.”
Osmo Hanninen, who served as the
organizing Secretary General of the Centennial Congress of
the IUPS (International Society of Physiological Sciences)
held in Helsinki (1989), recalled, that some time before the
Congress started he got a message from academician Georgy N.
Kryzhanovsky, of Moscow, suggesting they meet. They agreed
to do this during the Congress. Vladimir Shinkarenko, who
spoke fluent English, was also present. During the
discussion Kryzhanovsky suggested that they organize a
Constituent Congress of the International Society for
Pathophysiology in Moscow. He asked if H?nninen and the
Finnish Physiological Society were willing to help. He got
the promise and the help in time.
It should be mentioned that Ulrich
Zwiener?, Chairman of the Society for
Pathological and Clinical Physiology of the German
Democratic Republic (GDR), and later a founding member of
The ISP, did also much in the field of pathophysiology for
the development of international scientific relations. This
included organizing the International Congress for
Pathophysiology in the GDR (Leipzig, 1984) when he put
forward the idea of establishing an "International Society
of Pathophysiology” (see R. Bauer: Acta Physiol. Hung. 92:
93-95, 2005).
THE CONSTITUENT (1ST) CONGRESS
OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR PATHOPHYSIOLOGY - 1991
MOSCOW, USSR
Bronze medallion edited as a present to the participants for commemorating the founding congress of ISP in Moscow, 1991 (diameter: 6 cm)
The Organizing and Scientific Program
Committee of the Congress consisted of 28 acknowledged
experts in physiological sciences from all over the world.
Kryzhanovsky served as President of the
Congress, and Shinkarenko as the Secretary General. A few
other committees – e.g. Teaching - were also established.
As previously agreed for organizational
reasons, two headquarters were formed: the main organizing
office was in Moscow. However, matters that concerned
participants from countries other than the USSR (i.e.
registrations, scientific communications, correspondence) as
well as compiling the scientific publications of the
Congress were taken care of at the Department of Physiology,
University of Kuopio (Finland) headed by H?nninen. The
communication between these two offices was first handled by
couriers. The employees of one of the sponsors, Orion
Pharmaceutica, helped a lot in this context. Even the help
of the Finnish Embassy in Moscow was enjoyed. Later on
Shinkarenko managed to get smoother telephone, fax and
e-mail connections.
The National Organizing Committee – Kryzhanovsky
and Shinkarenko as the key executive members – managed in
spite of a number of logistic and administrative
difficulties to organize a large scale international
congress with a fine scientific program and interesting
social events (including ballet and opera in the Bolshoi
Theatre, The Moscow Circus, city tours, etc).
More than 1000 participants attended the
Congress and more than 4000 abstracts were published in the
Abstract book.
The draft Constitution of The ISP was
elaborated in Finland using the Constitution of the
International Council of Laboratory Animal Science as
background material with a number of modifications taken
mostly from other sources.
In the General Assembly of the newly
established ISP in Moscow, Kryzhanovsky was elected to serve
as President and Shinkarenko as Secretary General of the
Society.
The Constitution was adopted. Some of the
participants suggested that The ISP would be a society of
societies, but others proposed to allow individual members
as well. It was decided that individuals could be ISP
members too. The Council was established, which authorized
Toshikazu Yoshikawa to negotiate about starting a new
journal: Pathophysiology, the official journal of The ISP.
It was also decided to join the IUPS with The ISP as an
Associate Member.
During the meeting Japan won the voting
against Finland to host the 2nd ISP Congress.
After the Congress, Kryzhanovsky and
Shinkarenko took care of the official registration of the
new Society, while Finland provided the supporting documents
concerning international matters.
2ND INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY - 1994 KYOTO, JAPAN
The Second Congress was run under the
presidency of Yukata Oomura, with Tosihiie Sakata his “right
hand” as Secretary General.
The Congress
was held at the modern Kyoto International Conference Hall
and run successfully with 1249
participants according to the List of Participants, however,
in reality somewhat less than 1000 attended. Unfortunately,
the economic situation in certain countries had deteriorated
further and far fewer participants than expected from those
countries were able to participate.
The congress program included 5 plenary
and one special lecture, 3 round table discussions, 37
symposia, 84 workshops, 230 posters, and 6 satellite
symposia.
Oomura was elected to serve as ISP
President and H?nninen as President Elect, while Shinkarenko
continued as the Secretary General. Sakata was elected as
Treasurer.
Finland was selected to host the 3rd
International Congress of Pathophysiology, ISP-1998.
On behalf of The ISP, Oomura signed the
agreement with Elsevier Publishing House to start the
journal Pathophysiology. The Editorial Board was elected in
Kyoto.
3RD INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF
PAHTOPHYSIOLOGY - 1998 LAHTI, FINLAND
Osmo H?nninen served as the President of
the Congress and Chandan K Sen as its Secretary General.
The hosting organization was the Finnish
Physiological Society, its treasurer Esa Hohtola taking care
of economic matters. As with the preparation of the
constituent congress of The ISP, again Mrs. Anu Laine (Kuopio)
was of most valuable help during the planning phase. Mustafa
Atalay was responsible for all the publications. About 900
participants from 51 countries attended During ISP-98,
approximately 350 invited lectures were delivered, and about
1000 communications were presented.
The Congress was held in Lahti at the
Cultural Center.
Congress participants sailed over Lake
Vesij?rvi in sunshine and calm waters.
The Abstracts were published as a special
issue of Pathophysiology (Vol 5 Supplement 1, 1998) by
Elsevier. The Program Book contained the Index of the
Abstracts’ volume.
At the Council meeting H?nninen was
elected to serve as ISP President and Emil Monos as
President Elect because Hungary was chosen to host the 4th
International Congress of Pathophysiology, ISP-2002. Lajos
Szollár was elected as ISP Secretary General. Sakata
continued as ISP Treasurer. The President was authorized to
travel to China to study the suggested venue in Beijing and
to report to The ISP Executive Committee.
4TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY - 2002 BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
With Emil Monos as President and Lajos
Szollár as Secretary General, the ISP-2002 was held
at the E?tv?s Lóránd University Convention Centre located
on the banks of the River Danube on the Buda side of the
Hungarian Capital. The Hungarian Physiological Society was
the hosting society.
The 6th International Conference of the
European Society for Noninvasive Cardiovascular Dynamics was
integrated with the program of The ISP-2002 in the form of
two congress symposia.
Seven hundred abstracts received from 48
countries represented around 2000 scientists. The total
number of registered participants was 660. Based on the
preliminary registrations in excess of 3000, the attendance
could have been significantly higher, had the alarming
political and economic events of 2001 – the attack against
the World Trade Centre, New York - not deterred quite a few
potential attendees and sponsors from participating.
The congress program covered a wide range
of scientific topics from mechanisms of human and animal
diseases through to therapeutic interventions. In addition,
advanced methods of pathophysiological education were
addressed.
One of the main objectives of the Local
Organizing Committee was to promote and stimulate
communication between experts both during and following the
Congress. Therefore, in the Abstract volume (Acta
Physiologica Hungarica 89/1-3, 2002) and in the Final
Program booklet, each paper abstract featured the e-mail
address of the speaker. In addition, the Abstract volume
contained a full name index. Further, this was the first ISP
congress organized by using a website
(http//:isp2002.sote.hu).
Congress participants also received a
memorial bronze medal with the logo of ISP-2002 on one side,
and a portrait of Hungarian King István (Saint Stephen) on
the other, to commemorate the millennial historical past of
Hungary. Cultural events included the opening ceremony with
musical performance by The Jen? Hubay Chamber Orchestra, and
an organ concert by Norbert Balogh in Matthias Cathedral.
Several site-seeing programs and pre- as well as
post-congress tours in Hungary were also offered. A banquet
aboard the Danube cruiser “Európa”
with a spectacular firework display closed the Congress.
The Ceremonial Hall of the Council of
Semmelweis University Budapest hosted the leadership
electoral meeting. Rector Péter Sótonyi, in the capacity of
host, awarded Ignác Semmelweis medals to the preceding
presidents of ISP. In a secret ballot Emil Monos
(Hungary) and Qi-de Han (China) were
unanimously voted President and President Elect,
respectively, for a 4-year term. Osamu Matsuo (Japan)
was elected the Treasurer, Amanda Lochner (Republic of South
Africa) became Vice President, and Serguei V. Grachev
(Russia) Executive Vice President. Vice President
David H. Lewis (Sweden), Editor of Pathophysiology Yoshikawa
(Japan), and Secretary General Lajos Szollár (Hungary)
were confirmed in their posts. After hearing the reports
from The ISP officials, election and re-election of the 25
board members took place at the General Assembly of the ISP.
Recipients of 10 junior awards were announced. Following bid
presentations of a uniformly high standard, the venues of
the next ISP Congresses were decided by ballot: Beijing in
2006, and preliminarily, Montreal in 2010 (the latter to be
confirmed at the Beijing Congress after receiving the report
on preparations).
5TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF
PAHTOPHYSIOLOGY - 2006 BEIJING, CHINA
The fifth International Congress of
Pathophysiology (www.isp2006.org.cn)
was organized in the China International Conference Centre,
Beijing by the Chinese Association of Pathophysiology with
the support of the China Association for Science and
Technology. Qi-de Han served as President of the Congress
and Liling Wu, as the Secretary General.
The Congress
Organizers received 1076 abstracts from 42 countries. The
total number of registered participants was 928. 390 oral
presentations were programmed in 34 congress symposia, 686
abstracts were presented in 12 poster sections. 15
internationally renowned guest speakers delivered their
plenary lectures, some after the Opening Ceremony and the
remainder, before the Closing Ceremony.
Six satellite meetings were held. Ten
young scientists poster prizes were awarded.
The presentations of the Congress covered
a wide range of scientific topics from the mechanisms of
human and animal diseases to therapeutic interventions. The
scale of observations ranged from molecules to organs, or
even to the whole organism. Integrative approaches were
accentuated in both research and pathophysiological
education.
Abstracts of the presentations were
published in the Chinese Journal of Pathophysiology (Vol 22,
13, 2006), the official journal of the Chinese Association
of Pathophysiology.
The Congress was run smoothly, and the
spirit of the meeting was imbued with the humanistic flavour
of traditional and modern Chinese culture, and with the
remarkable progress of Chinese science.
Following tradition, The ISP had its
administrative meetings during and immediately after the
Congress. The General Assembly elected for the next four
year period Qi-de Han (China) to serve as ISP President and
Youyi Zhang (China) as ISP Secretary General.
Other Officers (2006-2010): Emil Monos
(Hungary) Past President, Pavel Hamet (Canada)
President Elect, Yuriy Arkhipenko
(Russia) Vice President, Stephen
Greenwald (England) Vice President, Youyi Zhang (China)
Secretary General, László Rosivall (Hungary) Treasurer, Osmo
H?nninen (Finland) Editor-in-Chief of Pathophysiology.
Further, 24 Council Members were
elected/re-elected by the General Assembly for 2006-2010.
Elected honorary life members of The ISP are
Georgy N.
Kryzhanovsky (Russia) Founding Honorary President, Juraj
Korpas (Slovakia) Honorary Council
Member, Yukata
Oomura (Japan) Honorary Council Member, and
Toshikazu Yoshikawa
(Japan) Honorary
Editor of Pathophysiology.
During the General Assembly, the Beijing
ISP
Declaration concerning the important role
and position of pathophysiological teaching/learning in
biomedical curricula was unanimously approved by the
delegates (see. www.ispathophysiology.org/Declaration.html).
The ISP General Assembly confirmed that
the 6th Congress of Pathophysiology (ISP-2010) will be held
in Montreal, Canada with Pavel Hamet as Congress President
and Sergei Orlov as Secretary General
(www.ISPmontreal2010.com). Based
on four ambitious bid presentations from Morocco with the
African Association of Physiological Sciences (AAPS),
Serbia, Ukraine, and Turkey, the venue of The ISP-2014
congress was decided by the new ISP Council in a secret
ballot. Rabat, Morocco with Wail Benjelloun, Secretary
General of AAPS, won the bid. The General Assembly during
the 6th ISP Congress in Montreal will receive the Moroccan
report on preparations and vote on the venue of The ISP-2014
Congress according to ISP traditions.
COOPERATION WITH OTHER SCIENTIFIC
ORGANIZATIONS
It has been
always a significant part in the policy of the ISP Council
to keep contact and to cooperate with national and
international societies being interested in the field of
physiological sciences. As a result, successful national and
international scientific conferences were organized under
the patronage of The ISP.
-
The Third Russian Congress of Pathophysiology on
“Disregulatory Pathology of Organs and Systems” (Moscow,
November 9-12, 2004, Georgy N. Kryshanovsky, Serguei V.
Grachev, Juriy V. Archipenko);
-
Fourth AAPS International Congress on “Physiological
Challenges in Africa” (Tetouan-Tanger, November 21-26, 2004,
Wail Benjelloun);
-
Sixth International Congress of the Worldwide
Hungarian Medical Academy (Budapest, August 25-27, 2005,
László Rosivall);
-
First Congress of
Physiological Sciences of Serbia and Montenegro on
“Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Basis of Health,
Disease and Therapy” (Belgrade, November 9-12, 2005,
Dragan Djuric, Vladimir Jakovljevic).
An important cooperation exists also with
the IUPS Council.
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY - THE OFFICIAL JOURNAL
OF ISP
(www.elsevier.com
or
www.elsevier.com/locate/pathophys)
The founder of the journal was Toshikazu
Yoshikawa, Japan. He became also the first Editor-in-Chief
of Pathophysiology. He was successful in negotiations with
the Elsevier International Publishing House, who undertook
to publish the journal. The a priori principle was
that the journal subscription would be part of The ISP
membership fee. Professor Yoshikawa collected the necessary
number (300) of subscription fees. Unfortunately, the annual
dues of ISP were decided at so low level that they could not
cover the subscriptions of the journal. In order to promote
the future of the journal, two regional editors were
nominated: D Neil Granger to deal with matters relating to
the Americas and Osmo H?nninen, to Europe.
The Publishing House Elsevier became
unhappy with some delays in the publication time tables of
the issues and H?nninen, as suggested by The ISP leadership,
was invited to serve as Editor-in-Chief. Granger continued
as Regional Editor for The Americas. Hans-Christoph Scholle
and Osamu Matsuo have been serving as Regional Editors for
Europe and Asia-Pacific, respectively.
At present, Elsevier is engaged in
negotiations with ISP President Han and Editor-in-Chief
H?nninen about how to continue, as The ISP fee system cannot
cover the required financial load.
ISP HOMEPAGE ON THE INTERNET
A remarkable achievement of the new ISP
Executive Committee members in Beijing has been the creation
of a permanent website for the Society within less than a
year of election. The colorful
homepage is rich in interesting and important information
related to The ISP (www.ispathophysiology.org).
This will surely, help to foster the exchange of information
between scientists all over the world interested in the
cause of pathophysiology.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The important contribution by Osmo
H?nninen and Stephen Greenwald to collecting and shaping
this material is highly appreciated.
Budapest, June 22, 2007.
Emil Monos,
Past President of ISP
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