International Academy for Medical and Biological Engineering Progress ReportAt the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering in Nice the initial group of Founding Fellows was inducted at the opening ceremony. Attached is a complete list of the Founding Fellows. On Monday, September 15, 1997, the members present at the World Congress held a meeting to further organise our Academy. We discussed a number of issues regarding the election of Founding Fellows. The first was to follow up on individuals elected who had not yet responded. Since the Nice World Congress, two people have responded, and once a few details are finalised, they will become part of our group of Founding Fellows. We also agreed to use a two track system in identifying further potential members or potential Founding Fellows. This will include nominations by the committee as well as nominations from outside. We also elected ten additional people who I am now in the process of contacting. Finally, there were additional people who were identified for further consideration. We also elected officers and members of the Executive Committee. This was done by first appointing a nominating committee. This nominating committee then reported to the Founding Fellows on Wednesday, September 17, 1997. The slate they proposed was unanimously elected. Thus, for the period 1997-2000, the officers and members of the Executive Committee are as follows:
A third area of discussion at the meeting was how to focus on activities involving young investigators in the field. A number of possibilities were discussed. This included providing funds for travel grants for young investigators, workshops focusing on the future of medical and biological engineering, an international meeting for young investigators, and awards for young scientists. Other possibilities discussed included research fellowship, possible opportunities with UNESCO (Daniel Laurent will investigate) and possibilities through national academies of individual countries. There would need to be an identification of a source of funding for any of these. For the present, two possibilities are being explored: An international meeting for young investigators to take place in the year 2000, in connection with the World Congress for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering in Chicago, and awards for young scientists. Finally, an important area of discussion was the need to communicate better with members of the International Academy. We also need to communicate with the outside world. This can possibly best be achieved through IFMBE News. The meeting adjourned with much enthusiasm on the part of those present. For those who were not able to be in Nice, I would be glad to provide you with further information. I certainly look forward to everyone participating in helping to build our new organisation. In this respect I would appreciate any comments, particularly on future activities, which you may wish to forward to me. Robert M. Nerem; Email: robert.nerem@che.gatech.edu Founding Fellows Kazuhiko Atsumi, M.D., Japan Professor Richard S.C. Cobbold, Canada Professor Floyd Dunn, USA Prof. Dr.-Ing. Uwe Faust, Germany Prof. Leszek Filipczynski, Poland Yuan-Cheng B. Fung, PhD, USA Leslie Alexander Geddes, PhD, USA Professor Hiroshi Kanai, Japan Professor Kang Zhen-Huang, People's Republic of China Daniel Laurent, MD, France Maciej Nalecz, PhD, Poland Robert M. Nerem, PhD, USA Professor P. Åke Öberg, Sweden Eur.Ing. Prof. John P. Paul, F.Eng., FRSE, UK Robert Plonsey, PhD, USA Univ.-Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Günter Rau, Germany Nándor Richter, Hungary Professor Fernand A. Roberge, Canada Professor Peter Rolfe, UK Professor Annelise Rosenfalck, Denmark Professor Masao Saito, Japan Professor Klaus Schindheim, Australia Professor Tatsuo Togawa, Japan Professor Max E. Valentinuzzi, Argentina Professor Peter N.T. Wells, UK Professor Walter Zingg, Canada | ||||||||||