To promote international communication among gynecologists, pathologists, dermatologists, and related disciplines, and to establish international agreement on terminology and definitions of vulvovaginal diseases.

To promote clinical investigation, basic research, and dissemination of knowledge in this field.

The ISSVD Logo is a gothic arch corresponding to the lines of longitude of an overlying globe. The late Dr. Eduard G. Friedrich, Jr. stated in his 1983 presidential address, Foundations of the Arch, ” that although the structure appears to be a finished edifice, we are more like one of the great cathedrals of Europe in its unfinished state. Those who struggled with the early foundations rarely lived to see the completed structure. They depended on those who came afterward to achieve the fulfillment of their vision.”