Celebrating 50 Years of Working Together for Pain Relief Throughout the World
A SPECIAL INTRODUCTION FROM THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY TASK FORCE CHAIRS
At a meeting convened by John Bonica in Issaquah, Washington, USA, in May 1973, a small international group of clinicians and scientists decided to start an international professional association dedicated to the study and management of pain. These pioneers, driven by the endless energy of John Bonica, brought pain to the forefront of medical science; no longer a secondary problem as a symptom of disease, but a pathologic problem in its own right that needed to be treated as such. The following year, the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) was formally incorporated as an organization. Fifty years later, IASP is the leading international professional association dedicated to the study and management of pain, with more than 6,100 members from all corners of the world, as well as 96 national chapters.
IASP will proudly celebrate its 50th Anniversary in 2024 and a Task Force chaired by us has been working with the IASP office over the past year to develop a number of initiatives to commemorate this milestone. A special issue of PAIN will include articles highlighting IASP contributions over the last 50 years to pain research, education and management. A new and 50th Anniversary section of the IASP website will present a timeline of events and landmarks in the life of IASP over the last half century. There will be social media campaigns related to the Anniversary and we will highlight seminal articles published in IASP journals. The celebrations will culminate at the 2024 IASP World Congress of Pain in Amsterdam. You won’t want to miss the Congress and the special 50th Anniversary events planned, so plan to attend!
This is a unique opportunity for all of us, longstanding and new members, to celebrate IASP’s achievements and look forward to an exciting future in which IASP will continue to facilitate and promote our efforts to work together for pain relief throughout the world.
AAJudith Turner, Ph.D.
AAProfessor
AADept. of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
AAUniversity of Washington, Seattle, USA
AAFernando Cervero MD, DSc
AAEmeritus Professor McGill University, Canada
AAHonorary Professor, The University of Bristol, UK
IASP celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2024. Throughout 2023 and 2024 and culminating at the 20th World Congress on Pain, 5 – 9 August in Amsterdam, Netherlands, IASP celebrated this milestone with 50th Anniversary initiatives that reflect on the advances and contributions made by IASP and our members over the last 50 years.
History and Timeline
The Beginning
“Where on Earth is Issaquah, Washington?” was the question of several international delegates who flew into Seattle-Tacoma Airport in late May of 1973. Providence Heights Conference Center in Issaquah, a town about 20 miles east of Seattle, was the location chosen for a unique week-long conference. The meeting was the International Symposium on Pain held on 21-26 May 1973. It was the brainchild of Professor John Bonica, chair of the Department of Anesthesiology at the University of Washington in Seattle and author of the groundbreaking book, The Management of Pain.
It was also just eight years after the publication of the gate control theory of pain by Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall, and much more attention was being paid to both chronic and acute pain than ever before.
It was obvious at the end of the meeting that fertile seeds had been sown and that there was goodwill. On the last day, there was unanimous approval for the proposals to start a journal dedicated to the field of pain and to start an international association to help support the journal and advance the study of pain and its treatment. And thus, the International Association for the Study of Pain was born.
CELEBRATING IASP'S FOUNDERS
Learn about IASP's founding members, watch some of the founders share their recollections of the association's beginning and their hopes for the future of pain research.
Journey Through IASP History
Resources
History of Pain Transcripts
In 1993, John Liebeskind, one of IASP’s founding members, initiated a Pain Oral History Project as part of IASP's first efforts to record the history of pain science and management. This project included interviews with IASP founders and other prominent IASP members.
As part of our 50
First Steps: The Early Years of IASP 1973-1984 is a set of memoirs written by former IASP Executive Officer Louisa E. Jones. It was published and distributed in conjunction with the 13th World Congress on Pain in Montréal, Canada. 
Celebrating 25 Years: International Association for the Study of Pain 1973 - 1998 was published celebrating IASPs 25th anniversary in 1998. It is a snapshot of IASPs growth and milestone achievements in the 20th century. 
This second edition of our taxonomy book, edited by Harold Merskey and Nikolai Bogduk as part of the IASP Task Force on Taxonomy, was originally published in 1994 and twice updated. Classification of Chronic Pain includes detailed pain definitions, descriptions of pain syndromes, and codes for chronic pain diagnosis. The IASP Taxonomy, developed in 2012, updates the pain terminology presented in the book. 
Though many of the terms were established in literature, the following pain terminology was first published in 1979. The terms and definitions have been carefully reviewed and their utility assessed in referenced to the new knowledge about both clinical and basic science aspects of pain.