PERM-IT '97 Adelaide, Australia, 8-11 September 1997In early September, over 280 delegates descended on Adelaide, South Australia for PERM-IT'97 [Physics, Engineering, Radiation, Medicine with a focus on Information Technology]. This annual 4-day Australasian conference was sponsored by the four organisations which cover the areas of Biomedical Engineering, Medical Physics, and Radiation Protection within Australasia: the Institution of Engineers Australia (IEAust), the Society of Medical and Biological Engineers (SMBE) (South Australian Division), the Australian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine (ACPSEM), and the Australasian Radiation Protection Society (ARPS). Adelaide is an ideal location for a conference in September - the fine weather, the excellent local restaurants and, of course, the neighbouring Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale wine districts for which South Australia is world famous. These combined to ensure that everyone was in just the right frame of mind to discuss their favourite projects, and share the latest knowledge and ideas. The social highlight was the Conference, held in the grounds of the historic Old Adelaide Gaol (or is it jail?). No-one accepted the offer of free accommodation for the night! There is significant common interest in the activities of the four sponsoring organisations, and many of the sessions were on themes to which members of more than one organisation contributed. Four Keynote Speakers set the scene for the conference. The opening address by Yadin David from the Texas Children's Hospital, St Luke's Episcopal Hospital and the Texas Heart Institute in Houston, Texas looked at Current practices and future directions for telemedicine. On the following day, Yadin and his colleagues at TCH were able to provide a powerful demonstration of the variety of ways in which a telemedicine Centre operates, including the most relevant technologies, equipment and room layout, and the manner in which the facility is used by practitioners. In his Keynote Address, Niilo Saranummi from VTT Information Technology, Finland discussed Digital media as an important change agent in healthcare and, in a complementary invited paper, spoke on Good information management practice for healthcare. Niilo had been in Australia for the week prior to the Conference as the 1997 Eminent Speaker of the Biomedical College of the Institution of Engineers Australia. His presentations around Australia, and the contributions he was able to make when meeting with Information Technology policy makers, will be of significant benefit as these technologies are introduced. Yadin and Niilo were also guests of Conference Chair John Robson at the South Australian Engineering Excellence Awards presentation dinner. Other Keynote Speakers included Alex Bielajew who has just taken up an appointment at the University of Michigan, and Alastair McKinlay from Non-ionising Radiation Department of the National Radiological Protection Board in the UK. In his address Monte Carlo dose calculation: why gamble with anything else? Alex could foresee the time when Monte Carlo methods for dose calculation techniques would pass into the standard toolbox of commercial radiotherapy treatment planning. Alex also presented a comprehensive and very well attended workshop on Monte Carlo techniques. Alastair's address EMFs and health - can science provide the answer, and his accompanying paper on cellular phones and human health, came at a time when there is much public discussion and media attention in Australia about the possible health hazards associated with mobile phones, TV transmission towers, and 50Hz transmission lines. In addition to the Keynote and Invited papers, delegates from Australia, New Zealand and several other countries delivered a further 160 oral or poster presentations. It was pleasing to note that many authors, while discussing the scientific and engineering aspects of their work, also acknowledged the need to take into account the social and environmental factors which influence our roles and responsibilities as researchers, practitioners and managers. Australian media coverage of the conference was quite extensive, with issues of telemedicine, non-ionising radiation, and the rehabilitation of an atomic testing site at Maralinga in Australia's outback, generating the greatest interest. Prizes awarded during the conference included the Institution of Engineers Australia's David Dewhurst Award for a distinguished Australian Biomedical Engineer. The 1997 Award was won by Dr Peter Farrell, and the presentation was made to him in California, via teleconference. Sharmil Randhawa, a lecturer at Flinders University in South Australia won the IEAust's Young Biomedical Engineer's Award for her paper entitled A neuromechanical model of intestinal motor activity, and Shelley Macdonald, a final-year biomedical engineering student at Flinders University, won the Marquette Electronics Student Prize for her paper Automated detection of myocardial ischaemia by ECG ST segment analysis. While the last session of a conference can be an anticlimax, on this occasion, the Open Forum provided an opportunity for delegates to hear the Keynote Speakers' views of the most significant changes they could foresee as we move into the next millennium, and to imagine the part that they would play in this. The student delegates found this a particularly stimulating session, and of considerable assistance to them as they plan their own careers in biomedical engineering. The next annual conference will be held in Hobart, Tasmania in November 1998. The biomedical engineering fraternity throughout Australia is also very excited about the World Congress to be held in Sydney in 2003. We are all committed to ensuring that it will be a really great event. Andrew Downing Chair, PERM-IT'97 Technical Committee 6 October, 1997 | ||