title: The DoD Joint Pathology Center as a Resource for Researchers.
abstract: The Department of Defense's Joint Pathology Center (JPC) is the world's largest collection of human pathology specimens, comprising some 7.4 million accessions. The biorepository, which began during the Civil War as a collection of materials obtained from medical and surgical procedures performed by Army physicians, houses specimens and associated data obtained for diagnostic purposes. It also holds several collections of specimens from military personnel who shared a common, service-related exposure or medical condition. This article, which is excerpted and adapted from the 2012 Institute of Medicine report "Future Uses of the Department of Defense JPC Biorepository,"1 summarizes information on the repository, its past uses, and the future operational issues and challenges that the JPC faces as it develops a concept of operations that will allow it to move forward as a resource for researchers.
authors.affiliation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Institute of Medicine, Medical Follow-up Agency, 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Butler
authors.affiliation: The Joint Pathology Center, 606 Stephen Sitter Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910.
authors.forename: Thomas P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Baker
mesh_terms: D018070:Biological Specimen Banks / Q000266:history*; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000266:history; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D008889:Military Personnel; D010336:Pathology; D014481:United States; D059030:United States Department of Defense