The DoD Joint Pathology Center as a Resource for Researchers

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.