• To support the profession of surgical pathology and surgical pathologists by education and research;
• To cooperate with local and national organizations engaged in the field of surgical pathology and other medical specialties;
• To foster the study of surgical pathology and to encourage the personal and professional development of surgical pathologists and students aspiring to become surgical pathologists;
• To encourage the highest standards in the practice and teaching of surgical pathology and to promote good fellowship among surgical pathologists through public discussion groups, forums, panels, lectures or other similar programs;
• To publish material related to surgical pathology.

The Arthur Purdy Stout Society of Surgical Pathologists is composed of pathologists dedicated to excellence in teaching, research and practice of surgical pathology. Surgical pathology is defined as the practice of medicine devoted to the diagnosis of disease based on observable cellular and tissue changes in specimens removed from living patients.