Melanoma Slide Club

History

The “melanoma slide club” actually started as the UK melanoma slide group in the early 1980’s by Doctor James Briggs, Consultant Histopathologist based in Bristol. His idea was to create group to offer some help with difficult cases. He discussed the idea with Dr Rona McKee, who supported the idea. Membership to the group was based on open expressions of interest and quickly grew. The numbers were limited to 20 to 30 by the cutting of slides that were circulated. Regular meetings were organised to discuss the cases. Dr Briggs invigilated the first 100 cases after which he asked for expressions of interest for a successor.

Doctor Martin Cook (now Professor) took over around case 100. The club preceded very much in the same way as before. He invited eminent dermatopathologists from other countries) and analysed cases according to diagnostic responses. By then, the club had approximately 30 UK and 6 international members.

Professor Cook completed the second 200 cases and then asked for expressions of interest for a successor. As there were no expressions of interest, he invited a couple of colleagues to take on the role.

Dr Richard Carr accepted the invitation after Dr Alan Evans supported his nomination. Under Dr Carr’s leadership, membership has expanded to over 325 members, following a strategic alliance with the NSDEQA. There are also more than 15 international members – contributors.

Cases are selected from day to day sign-out’s and some second opinion cases. Case selection is intended to reflect the wide spectrum of difficult cases encountered in routine sign-out. The format of the club allows for an informative discussion over differential diagnosis, diagnostic pitfalls, ancillary tests and pragmatic reporting, benefiting from the opinion of experts in the field.

We are grateful to Dr Richard Carr for his generosity, allowing access, to this valuable educational material that he has curated over time, to the wider Dermatopathology community through the BSD website.