The Spinal Unit at Stoke Mandeville Hospital was founded in February 1944 by Dr Ludwig Guttmann (later Sir Ludwig Guttmann). It was a Ministry of Pensions Hospital for the treatment of injured servicemen and ex-servicemen. In 1952 it became the National Spinal Injuries Centre, part of the British National Health Service.

In 1948 the National Stoke Mandeville Games were started and in 1952 the International Stoke Mandeville Games were founded. In 1955 the doctors from various countries who accompanied their teams to these Games, started to meet informally to discuss their clinical work and research. As these meetings became larger and more formal, the International Medical Society of Paraplegia was founded in 1961 with Sir Ludwig Guttmann as the President.

In the early years, the Annual Scientific Meetings were held at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, except in Olympic years when they were held in association with the Paralympics. The Annual Scientific Meetings are now held in many different countries and in addition there are Regional Meetings supported by the Society, throughout the world.

The International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS, formerly IMSoP) promotes the highest standard of care in the practice of spinal cord injury for men, women and children throughout the world. Through its medical and multi disciplinary team of Professionals  ISCoS endeavours to foster education, research and clinical excellence.
ISCoS has a membership of over 1,000 Clinicians and Scientists from 87 countries. They regularly update their knowledge at the Annual Scientific Meeting held in a different country each year.
ISCoS is continuously expanding both in membership and new horizons.

NEW HORIZONS:

World Health Organization (WHO):

In 2005 the Executive and officers of the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) applied to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for re-instatement of the recognition of ISCoS as a professional NGO in official relation with the WHO.  A number of collaborative projects have been agreed between the two organisations and the framework under which ISCoS and WHO will collaborate has been accepted. 

As part of this process ISCoS, in co-operation with WHO are in the process of preparing a document on the “International Perspectives in Spinal Cord Injury” (IPSCI).   This will hopefully focus the attention of providers of health care and other services for this group of patients in order to ensure improvement of care and outcomes to enable individuals with spinal cord injury to participate fully in all spheres of life.

SCI Data Sets:

Survival of spinal cord injury (SCI) with improving quality of life has increasingly become an expected outcome worldwide. As a result there is an increasing need for data pertaining to SCI to be able to compare information. Therefore, the International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) and the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA), in 2002, started to work together to create common International SCI Data Sets which they suggest should be collected on individuals with SCI to facilitate comparisons regarding injuries, treatments, and outcomes between centres and countries.  At the same time these data sets can provide basic information for any medical record on individuals with SCI. With ISCoS as the driving force nearly 10 International SCI Data Sets have been published and several more are in the pipeline. In addition, in cooperation with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), the Common Data Elements (CDE) Project, consistent variable names and a common database structure for the data elements in the International SCI Data Sets are developed. Furthermore, an effort is being made to have the Data Sets translated into various languages in a standardised way. All the internationally approved International SCI Data Sets, as well as the developed variable names and database specifications will be available through the website of ISCoS (www.iscos.org.uk).

SPINAL CORD is the official Journal of the International Spinal Cord Society . This is the forum that attracts publications from clinicians and basic scientists who work in the field of Spinal Injuries. Spinal Cord is essential reading for those working full time in spinal cord injuries and those who have a special interest in basic science and any of the of the organs or systems affected by spinal cord injury.

OBJECTIVES:

International Spinal Cord Society (ISCoS) shall:

1. Serve as an international impartial, non-political and non-profit making association whose purpose is to study all problems relating to traumatic and non-traumatic lesions of the spinal cord. This includes causes, prevention, basic and clinical research, medical and surgical management, clinical practice, education, rehabilitation and social reintegration. This society will function in close collaboration with other national and international bodies, thereby encouraging the most efficient use of available resources.
2. Provide a scientific exchange among its members and others by collecting and disseminating information through publications, correspondence, exhibits, regional and international seminars, symposia, conferences and otherwise
3. Advise, encourage, promote and when requested, assist in efforts to co-ordinate or guide research, development and evaluation activities related to spinal cord lesions throughout the world.
4. Advise, encourage, guide and support the efforts of those responsible for the care of patients involved and when requested, correlate these activities throughout the world.
5. Advise, encourage, guide and support the efforts of those responsible for the education and training of medical professionals and professionals allied to medicine and when requested, correlate these activities throughout the world.

The International Spinal Cord Society shall work in collaboration with national and international bodies, thereby encouraging the most efficient use of available resources worldwide.

Founder and First President:     1961 – 1970

Prof Sir Ludwig Guttmann, CBE, FRS

PRESIDENTS OF ISCoS

Dr HTalbot	USA	1970 - 73
Dr A Tricot	Belgium	1973 - 77
Prof.V Paeslack	Germany	1977 - 80
Sir George Bedbrook	Australia	1980 - 84
Prof A Rossier	Switzerland	1984 - 88
Dr E.Carter	USA	1988 - 92
Dr P.Dollfus	France	1992 - 96
Dr HL Frankel	UK	1996 - 00
Prof T Ikata	Japan	2000 - 04
Prof W Donovan	USA	2004 - 08
Mr W S El-Masry	UK	2008 – 10
Prof F Biering-Sorensen	Denmark	2010 – 12

SOCIETY MEDAL HOLDERS

1975/1976:	Sir Ludwig Guttmann	(UK)	(Deceased)
	Dr Ernest Bors	(USA)	(Deceased)
1978:	Dr L Michaelis	(UK)	(Deceased)
	Sir George Bedbrook	(Australia)	(Deceased)
1979:	Dr Marc Maury	(France)
1980:	Dr J S Young	(USA)	(Deceased)
1981:	Dr A G Hardy	(UK)	(Deceased)
1982:	Prof Fred Meinecke	(Germany)
1983:	Prof Hans Frankel	(UK)
1984:	Dr Y Nakamura	(Japan)	(Deceased)
1985:	Dr M Weiss	(Poland)	(Posthumously)
	Mr Phillip Harris	(UK)
1986:	Dr H Hahn	(USA)	(Deceased)
1987:	Professor Alain Rossier	(Switzerland)	(Deceased)
1988:	Dr Al  Jousse	(Canada)	(Deceased)
1989:	Mr J Cosbie Ross	(UK)	(Deceased)
1990:	Dr Paul Dollfus	(France)
1991:	Dr Ed Carter	(USA)
1992:	Dr A Key	(South Africa)	(Deceased)
1993:	Air Marshal (Rtd) Amar Chahal	(India)
1994:	Mr Isaac Nuseibeh	(UK)
1995:	Dr Avrom E Comarr	(USA)	(Deceased)
1996:	Dr Guido Zach	(Switzerland)
1997:	Prof Helmut Madersbacher	(Austria)
1998:	Prof Takaaki Ikata	(Japan)
1999:	Dr William Geisler	(Canada)
2000:	Prof John Yeo	(Australia)
2001:	Prof J J Wyndaele	(Belgium)
2002:	Mr W El Masri	(UK)
2003:	Prof Giles Brindley	(UK)
2004:	Prof William Donovan	(USA)
2005:	Dr Ray Shrosbree	(South Africa)
2006:	Dr Lee Illis	(UK)
2007:	Dr Fin Biering-Sorensen	(Denmark)
2008:	Dr J Ditunno	(USA)
2009:	A/Prof D J Brown	(Australia)
	Dr P Meyer	(USA)
2010:	A/Prof A Kovindha	(Thailand)
	Dr I Perkash	(USA)