History of the American Pain Society
The American Pain Society (APS) had its beginnings on March 6, 1977, at a meeting in Chicago of the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on the Formation of a National Pain Organization. This meeting was precipitated by significant increases in public awareness of pain management and research; the need for a national organization of pain professionals; the existence of two regional pain societies, the Eastern and Western USA Chapters of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP); and the growth of the IASP.
Drs. John J. Bonica and B. Berthold Wolff invited 28 interested pain professionals from across the US, covering a wide disciplinary range, to the Chicago meeting.
Co-Chairmen:
B. Raymond Fink
B. Berthold Wolff
Robert N Arm
Arthur F. Batista
W. Crawford Clark
Benjamin L. Crue
Frederick L. Evans
Raymond W. Houde
Louisa E. Jones
Edith R. Kepes
Frederick W.L. Kerr
Daniel Laskin
John D. Loeser
David J. Mayer
Hubert L. Rosomoff
Richard A. Sternbach
William H. Sweet
Ruben Tenicela
William D. Willis
Unable to Attend:
John J. Bonica
Burnell R. Brown, Jr.
Kenneth L. Casey
Howard L. Fields
Dean Donald Giddon
Edward R. Perl
Alon P. Winnie
At the Chicago conference, the first motion, moved by Sweet, seconded by Kerr, and approved unanimously, was that there be formed an American Association for the Study of Pain (AASP). It was conceived that this organization would be multidisciplinary, encompassing all areas of interest, from basic science to clinical applications and treatment, and that these various areas would be represented in its governing body. It was agreed that eastern and western chapters would relinquish their chapter status in the IASP and that the new national organization would replace them as the single United States chapter. Both the eastern and western groups would become the first chapters of the new national society. Dr. Wolf chaired a steering committee consisting of Bonica, Houde, Kerr, Laskin, Liebeskind, Sweet, and Willis to address the formation of a national pain society. This steering committee was to recommend an organization and structure of the AASP to the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee.
In a “Dear Colleague” letter from Wolff dated June 28, 1977, new members for the society were sought, offering charter membership for $10 as initial dues. In that letter, charter members were asked to vote on whether they wished the name of their society to be the American Pain Society (APS) or American Association for the Study of Pain (AASP). Of the 444 original charter members as of October 17, 1977, 221 voted for APS, 156 voted for AASP, 57 voted for “other,” and 10 expressed no preference.
The name of the organization was changed to the American Pain Society at the second meeting of the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on October 22, 1977, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. The IASP Council gave provisional approval for chapter status to the APS at its meeting September 6, 1977. Final ratification took place at the IASP General Assembly in Montreal in August 1978. Also at that time, the Pro Tempore Board of Directors of APS held its first meeting, and the first business meeting of the newly ratified APS was held.
The steering committee adopted most of the IASP Constitution as the basis for the constitution of the national society. A bylaws committee, consisting of Dr. Frederick W. Kerr (chair), Dr. Edward R. Perl, and Dr. Wolff (ex officio), wrote the first constitution and bylaws. The draft bylaws were considered at the Montreal business meeting, but not approved, in part due to the feeling that 29 directors were too many and that the number should be reduced to 15 (which it ultimately was). The revised bylaws were considered and ratified at a meeting of the board in New York on December 2, 1978.
Also at that meeting, Dr. Wolff reported that there were 510 charter members, and announced the results of the first official APS election—236 legal ballots received in the election of the first Nominating Committee: Sweet (Chair), J. Adams, B.R. Fink, R. Houde, J. Liebeskind. Dr. Bonica was chosen as the chairman of the board, and Dr. Wolff was elected first president, serving from 1978 to 1980. The other elected officers were Dr. Benjamin L. Crue, Jr., President-Elect; Dr. Arthur F. Battista, secretary; and Dr. William D. Willis, treasurer. Dr. B. Raymond Fink was chosen to serve as liaison secretary to IASP. Somewhat later, Dr. William H. Sweet succeeded Dr. Fink.
Kerr served as chair of the Bylaws Committee and was instrumental in eventually obtaining nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service organization and which became incorporated in the District of Columbia in 1978. Dr. Diane Chen, then an employee of Hoffman LaRoche in Nutley, NJ, provided the initial secretarial and organizational support services critical to the formation and growth of the new organization.
The first Annual Scientific Meeting of APS, David Mayer as program chair, was held at the Town and Country Hotel in San Diego, September 9-10, 1979, and attended by 275 individuals. The second Annual Scientific Meeting in New York City in 1980 attracted over 400 persons. There was no meeting in 1981 because it was the year of the Third IASP World Congress. However, the rapid growth of APS, both in terms of membership and annual meeting attendance, has been maintained.
To learn more about the history of pain research and therapy, visit the John C. Liebeskind History of Pain Collection at the UCLA Louise. M. Darling Biomedical Library website.
This collection includes archival records of major pain organizations, personal papers of selected leaders in the pain field, oral histories with pain researchers, clinicians, and organization leaders and videotaped group interviews. The collection has been named in honor of Dr. John C. Liebeskind, a leader in pain research, Professor of Psychology at UCLA and a former president of the American Pain Society, who died on September 8, 1997.
