DSKM was founded on the 3rd of June 1969.
During the late 60s, there were considerations to establish a scientific society for clinical microbiology in Denmark.
The specialty for Clinical Microbiology was recognised by the Danish Health Authority in 1966. Microbiological laboratories were established in a number of different hospitals, and the professional organization of the Clinical Microbiologists Organization was founded in 1968.
When a proposal to divide the Danish pathology association into two sections, one for microbiology and one for pathology, resistance for change was encountered. The Pathology Foundation agreed on a structure that preserved this as an umbrella organization under the name of the Danish Society for Pathology for three affiliated societies: The Danish Society for Veterinary Pathology and Hygiene, the Danish Society for Pathological Anatomy and the Danish Society for Clinical Microbiology.
Therefore, Preben von Magnus, Knud Riewerts Eriksen, Kresten Work, Jørgen Christian Siim and Nikolaj Mortensen sent invitations to a general meeting for the founding of the Danish Society for Clinical Microbiology (DSKM) in May 1969. On the 3rd of June 1969 the society was founded at a meeting held at Statens Serum Institute.
DSKM publishes the anniversary book “Danish Society for Clinical Microbiology 1969-1994,” edited by Bente Gahrn-Hansen and Brita Bruun, Odense University Press 1994 (Danish). The book describes the society’s first 25 years with contributions from many clinical microbiologists.
The first anniversary book is followed by a 50th-anniversary book “Danish Society for Clinical Microbiology 1969-2019,” edited by Niels Nørskov-Lauritsen and Hans Jørn Kolmos. University of Southern Denmark Press 2019 (Danish). Here, a retrospective look at the first 25 years is revisited and supplemented with significant descriptions of the society’s 50 years.
The 50th-anniversary book in print is distributed to new members and other interested individuals at the annual meeting.