GRIPE was founded in 1971 by Dr. Thomas Kent at the University of Iowa, at which time:
“A meeting of undergraduate teachers of medical school pathology was held for the purposes of discussing educational objectives, evaluation techniques, and learning materials. There was enthusiasm for developing a test item pool. Represented were the Universities of Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan State, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio State, St. Louis, and Tennessee.” – Bulletin of Pathology Education 7:2, 1981.
The inaugural meeting of GRIPE members was hosted on June 11, 1971 and included 13 pathology educators in Iowa City, Iowa. Hosted by Thomas H. Kent, MD representing the University of Iowa College of Medicine, these educators met to discuss teaching objectives and exchange pathology education teaching/learning materials. In addition to Iowa, the Colleges of Medicines at the following universities were represented: University of Kentucky, Michigan State University, The Ohio State University, University of Nebraska, St. Louis University, University of Colorado, and the University of Missouri. Their agenda included a discussion of interest in developing and sharing objectives, learning experiences and evaluation of medical students. By the following year, when they met again, they begin the development of a computerized Pathology Item Pool for medical education. A pilot was conducted of the Item Bank in ten medical universities. The original pathology educators contributed most of the beginning data. A grant of $8,450 was obtained from the National Fund for Medical Education to do a feasibility study for the development of the Pathology Test Item Bank. Forty-five years later, the Group for Research in Pathology Education has a Digital Library of over 6000 peer-reviewed, indexed items and more than 4000 peer-reviewed, indexed images of pathology.
Since then, GRIPE increased its membership to include over 60 institutions and affiliated faculty representing many different countries. Each year GRIPE members came together in an annual meeting to share experiences and resources to promote in undergraduate and graduate pathology education. These meetings have resulted in the development of shared teaching resources such as the GRIPE Digital Library and faculty development materials.
In 2021, GRIPE was absorbed by the International Association of Medical Science Educators (IAMSE). In 2023, GRIPE held its final one-day pre-conference day at the IAMSE Conference to help expand on research in pathology education. As of 2024, GRIPE has no active role within IAMSE.