Biomedical Engineering in USA

Dov Jaron, Calhoun Professor of Engineering in Medicine, Drexel University, IFMBE President

On December 29, 2000 President Clinton signed into law the Unites States Congressional Action to establish the Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Institute at the National Institute of Health (NIH). The purpose of the new Institute is to conduct and support research, training, the dissemination of health information, and other programs with respect to biomedical imaging, biomedical engineering, and associated technologies and modalities with biomedical applications. For the first time in its history, the National Institutes of Health -- and as a result, biological and medical research activities -- will benefit from the important contributions of engineering and physical sciences. 

I will discuss events that preceded this action and the various legislative efforts leading to the creation of the new Institute. An important milestone in this process was the creation of BECON, the Bioengineering Consortium. BECON was a committee, made up of representatives from the various NIH Institutes, which was tasked by the then Director of NIH, Harold Varmus, to coordinate activities in bioengineering across NIH and with other Federal Agencies. BECON established a number of important new research initiatives and enhanced funding for bioengineering. It also organized a number of bioengineering-related symposia and workshops in cutting edge research and clinical applications. I will summarize BECON's activities, discuss the various initiatives and symposia that they sponsored as well as the funding level for research projects for bioengineering at NIH and at NSF. I will discuss the implications of this breakthrough in biomedical engineering support and the opportunities it creates for the international biomedical engineering community.