President's Column

I am very pleased to share with all of you a number of important activities of the Federation that have recently taken place, as well as some that are in the planning. As you will realize when you read this issue of the IFMBE Newsletter, we have been fortunate to recruit a dynamic individual to the post of Newsletter editor. Ratko Magjarevic of the Croatian society is replacing Niilo Saranummi. Niilo has been our Newsletter editor for a number of years and implemented many improvements. The Newsletter has been issued on a regular basis with contributions from a growing number of individuals and societies. Under Niilo's leadership, we are now issuing the Newsletter in electronic form and making it available by email as well as posting it on the IFMBE web site. These improvements have enabled dissemination of the information to a much larger number of IFMBE members than before. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize Niilo for his many contributions and tireless efforts on behalf of the Federation. I would also like at the same time to encourage all of our members to help Ratko, our new editor, by providing him with regular information about your activities.

Many of you are aware of the activities of the European member societies of IFMBE. For the last 2 years, with support from the IFMBE, the European societies have been working on the creation of a European Alliance, affiliated with IFMBE, which will represent the unique interests of the European biomedical engineering community. The formation of this Alliance has been endorsed by almost every European national society as well as some trans-European organizations. A protem group, elected by representatives of the IFMBE national societies is in the process of formulating a constitution and bylaws for the new Alliance. It is expected that by "speaking with one voice" the Alliance will gain increased influence with the European Commission and the European Parliament and be able to effectively represent the interests of the biomedical engineering community. Detailed information about the activities of the protem group is available on the IFMBE web site at www.ifmbe.org.

We have embarked on a project to increase the number of subscriptions to the IFMBE Journal: "Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing". The Journal has undergone considerable improvements since Alan Murray became editor. It is attracting a larger number of manuscripts in new areas of biomedical engineering and has increased its standing in comparison with other publications in the field. The Federation Journal committee is in the process of making an electronic subscription available. To this end, the publisher will offer for a limited time, free trial subscription to all members of the Federation. Please watch your email and the IFMBE web site for news and information on procedures to access the free trial.

The IFMBE working group on Cellular and Tissue Engineering held its bi-annual meeting in Aachen, Germany last year. The meeting, under the new working group chairmanship of Dr. Gerhard Artmann, was a big success. A select number of papers, presented at the conference will be published as a special section in an upcoming issue of the Federation Journal. Other members of the Federation, who wish to send manuscripts for review for this special issue, should do so by sending their paper to the editor, Alan Murray.

The 12th IFMBE Nordic Baltic conference will be held in Iceland from the 18th to the 22nd of June. In addition to the scientific session, which promise to be stimulating, this is an opportunity to visit an exciting and unique country. As in other regional conferences, we would like to invite persons from all parts of the globe to come and participate in the conference, meet colleagues and friends and enjoy the social activities. Information about the meeting can be found on the web at www.nervus.is/nbc02/. The Administrative Council of the IFMBE will hold its annual meeting on the 16th and 17th of June, just prior to the start of the Iceland conference. This is an open meeting and members of the Federation are invited to attend and learn about the workings of the Federation.

The Administration Council approved a new version of the IFMBE logo. The original version did not include the name of the Federation as part of the logo. The new version, which includes the name, identifies the logo with IFMBE. Future activities of the Federation under working groups, divisions or co-sponsored conferences should use the new logo. The new logo appears on this issue of the Newsletter.

Our ability to disseminate the IFMBE Newsletter electronically should make it possible for the members of the Federations to keep abreast of the many activities of the IFMBE and recent developments that are of interest to the international biomedical engineering community. In the next issue I will discuss actions taken during the IFMBE officers meeting, the Awards program of the IFMBE that is requesting nominations of outstanding individuals to be recognized, and the upcoming 2003 World Congress in Sydney, Australia. I encourage every member to write to Ratko with news, and articles about their activities and send comments and suggestions about current and proposed new IFMBE activities. We want to hear from as many of you as possible.

Dov Jaron
IFMBE President
Email: Dov.Jaron@COE.Drexel.EDU