(updated 8 June 2024)

Established
31st of May, 2003

Mission
Constantly improve the quality of care of patients with neurological diseases in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia through the dissemination of the experience of diagnosis and practice in Neuropathology.

History
The association was founded on 31st of May, 2003, in Riga, Latvia by representatives from all three countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania). The historical founding event was also attended by world renowned neuropathologists from Germany, Norway and USA (Prof. Goebel, Prof. Walter, Prof. Skullerud, Prof. Mörk, Prof. Vinters).

The statutes of the association state two year rotation of presidentship with vice-presidents representing the remaining two countries. The president also fulfills the secretarial duties.
The first president was Dr Andres Kulla, Estonia (2003-2006) and the two vice-presidents were Dr Daina Apskalne, Latvia and Dr Inga Gudinaviciene, Lithuania. The first Treasurer was Dr Enn Joeste, Estonia.

The foundation of a tri-national Baltic Association of Neuropathologists (BAN) was promoted and highly supported by Prof. Hans H. Goebel (Euro- CNS president in 2003). For a small subspecialty, such as neuropathology, a single common professional association bringing all three Baltic States together, similar to the Scandinavian Society of Neuropathology, appeared and still appears most suited. This has proved effective through regular workshops, business meetings and informal meetings.

Leadership
Donatas Petroska is a current president of Baltic Association of Neuropathologists (BAN); president also fulfills the secretarial duties.

Number of members
At the current time BAN has 31 member: 15 active members, 6 honorary members and 10 corresponding members.

Main focus of the members
Neuropathology (part time), Pathology with some aspects of neuropathology

Meetings
Almost regularly BAN has 2 meetings annually; under possibilities some of them are formal – providing certificates of attendance.

Status of Neuropathology
Neuropathology is not recognized as a separate specialty/subspecialty in the Baltic States. The specialists in all three countries practicing in neuropathology are qualified in general pathology.

Neuropathology training in the Baltic States
The training in neuropathology is under personal initiative to participate at international events (conferences or courses) or at the meetings of BAN. No official systematic training for neuropathology is provided in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

New developments
In the region of BAN there are possibilities to perform NGS (in LT, LV and EE), methylation profiling (in LT from 2017) for brain tumors.