The original concept for an international collaboration to standardise cancer pathology reports worldwide was developed by David Ellis and John Srigley following meetings in Sydney and Banff in 2009. With strong support from founding project manager, Meagan Judge and the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia (RCPA), the team engaged with pathology colleges in the United Kingdom (RCPath) and USA (CAP) and the Canadian Association of Pathologists (CAP-ACP) in association with the Canadian Partnership Against Cancer (CPAC), leading to formation of the International Collaboration of Cancer Reporting (ICCR) in 2011.
The ICCR was established with a view to reducing the global burden of cancer dataset development and reduplication of effort by the different international institutions that commission, publish and maintain standardised cancer reporting datasets.
The ICCR recognised that a coordinated effort on cancer reporting would offer synergies and have far–reaching benefits for those involved as well as for those countries that are not in a position to develop their own datasets. The development of a single internationally agreed dataset for each tumour has the following benefits:
ICCR datasets also provide the single best way for the existing dataset producers (RCPath, CAP and RCPA) to align and synchronise efforts.
The quadripartite alliance signed an initial agreement to collaborate in February 2011 agreeing to work towards the standardisation of an initial four cancer datasets. The dataset writing groups, comprising many world-leading experts in their fields, produced cancer datasets for lung, melanoma, prostate (radical prostatectomy), and endometrial carcinoma. The methodology used for dataset development was different for each of the expert writing groups, but nonetheless internationally agreed, evidence-based cancer datasets of the highest standard were produced, all of which have been subject to international open consultation and published in peer-reviewed journals. By using different processes for collaboration in each of the expert groups, the ICCR were able to optimise the method for future international dataset development efforts.
Following on from the success of this pilot project, the ICCR was joined by the European Society of Pathology (ESP) in 2013.
The ICCR incorporated as a not–for–profit organisation in 2014 to support membership expansion and continued development efforts.
The ICCR’s memberships rapidly increased since 2014 and so has the size of its Board. Legislative and regulatory changes to companies incorporated in Australia have also changed in 2022 adding an additional layer of bureaucracy for our Directors. Therefore, given these two factors, the ICCR Executive proposed adopting a similar organisational structure to many of its members – that of a having a Board with a small number of Directors, supported by a governing council to which all members would belong. Constitutional changes to reflect this change were proposed and adopted at the Board meeting in October 2022. This change was ratified at the Annual General Meeting in November 2022. The new organisational structure came into effect immediately.
As of November 2022, the ICCR is now governed by a Board of Directors and a Council. The Board is comprised of the President, Vice-President, and includes two Australian Directors as per constitutional requirements, and they provide strategic oversight of all ICCR operations. The Council is comprised of the Board of Directors and all Platinum and Gold members. The Council’s role is to provide support to the Board of Directors as well as providing oversight, review and monitoring of all ICCR operations and ICCR committees. The Board of Directors, Council, and Project Management team work together to advance the strategic role of the ICCR in international pathology and cancer organisations.