History and Past Congresses

History of the ISSVD

The ISSVD was founded in 1970 at the Sixth World Congress of the International Federation of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (FIGO) in New York City. Over the following year, individuals throughout the world who shared a primary interest in vulvovaginal disease were identified and invited to join the new society as founding fellows. The Society’s inaugural session was chartered at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) in San Francisco in 1971; representatives of Dermatology and Pathology were also among the Founding Fellows.

Founding Document

GUILLERMO R. di PAOLA,MD,PhD

At the inaugural Meeting of the International Society for the Study of Vulvar Disease* in San Francisco, California on May 5, 1971, the Secretary-Treasurer, Dr. Eduard G. Friedrich, Jr., submitted the following resolution hereafter known as our FOUNDING DOCUMENT:

“WHEREAS, diseases affecting the human vulva are not confined to the limitations of a single medical specialty, nor to the borders of a single nation, and

WHEREAS, there apparently exists no generally agreed upon terminology regarding classification of vulvar disease, and

WHEREAS, the free and efficient communication of facts and ideas is necessary, if we are to apply the ever-advancing wave of medical knowledge to the field of vulvar disease,

WE, the undersigned, do hereby resolve that there is justification for an international society devoted to the subject of vulvar disease and do hereby constitute THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF VULVAR DISEASE.”

This document was signed May 5, 1971 by the following Founding Fellows:

G.R. di Paola
A.F. Lash
J. Donald Woodruff
Ernest W. Franklin III
Herman L. Gardner
Vincent J. Capraro
Eduard G. Friedrich, Jr.
William C. Fetherston
Kane Zelle
Raymond H. Kaufman
George W. Morley
Harold M. Tovell
V. Cecil Wright
John R.G. Gosling

*At the XII Congress in Quebec on September 23, 1993, the ISSVD voted to modify the name of the Society to THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF VULVOVAGINAL DISEASE.

Click Here to read the Founding President’s Lecture Presented in Queenstown New Zealand, February 2006

PAST PRESIDENTS and WORLD CONGRESS of the ISSVD
CONGRESS	LOCATION	City/Province	DATES	PRESIDENT
I	SPAIN	Marbelca	Aug. 8, 1973	Dr. Guillermo R. di Paola
II	USA	Key Biscayne	Jan. 9-11, 1975	Dr. J. Donald Woodruff
III	MEXICO	Cocoyoc	Oct. 22-24, 1976	Dr. Herman L. Gardner
IV	FRANCE	Montbazon	May 2-25,1978	Dr. Jean Hewitt
V	USA	Maui	Oct. 21-23, 1979	Dr. Raymond H. Kaufman
VI	ENGLAND	Cambridge	Sept. 22-24, 1981	Dr. Charles P. Douglas
VII	USA	Lake Buena Vista	Sept. 25-29,1983	Dr. Eduard G. Friedrich
VIII	FINLAND	Mariehamn	Sept. 9-12, 1985	Dr. Peter J. Lynch
IX	AUSTRALIA	Queensland	Aug. 30-Sept 3, 1987	Dr. Barry L. Kneale
X	USA	Washington, DC	Oct. 22-26, 1989	Dr. Edward J. Wilkinson
XI	ENGLAND	Oxford	Sept. 22-26, 1991	Dr. C. Marjorie Ridley
XII	CANADA	Quebec	Sept. 26-30, 1993	Dr. Michel Roy
XIII	ARGENTINA	Iguazu	Sept. 17-20, 1995	Dr. Nidia Gomez Rueda
XIV	ITALY	Baveno	Sept. 14-20, 1997	Dr. Dale Brown, Jr.
XV	USA	Santa Fe, New Mexico	Sept. 26-Oct. 2, 1999	Dr. Mario Sideri
XVI	PORTUGAL	Sintra/Porto	Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2001	Dr. Marilynne McKay
XVII	BRAZIL	Salvador	Oct. 12-16, 2003	Dr. Jose Martinez de Oliveira
XVIII	NEW ZEALAND	Queenstown	Feb. 20-24, 2006	Dr. Ronald W. Jones
XIX	ALASKA	Inside Passage Cruise	July 28- Aug. 3, 2007	Dr. Libby Edwards
XX	SCOTLAND	Edinburgh	Sept. 13-17, 2009	Dr. Allan B. MacLean
XXI	FRANCE	Paris	Sept. 5-8, 2011	Dr. Micheline Moyal-Barracco
XXII	ROYAL CARIBBEAN	Mediterranean	Oct. 6-13, 2013	Dr. Jacob Bornstein
XXIII	NEW YORK	New York	July 27-29, 2015	Dr. Hope Haefner
XXIV	ARGENTINA	Mendoza	September 11-15, 2017	Dr. Claudia Marchitelli

Past Presidents Reunite at the XXII World Congress:

Jose Martinez de Oliveira
Edward Wilkinson
Libby Edwards
Peter Lynch
Marilynne McKay
Jacob Bornstein

PastPresidents