Biomedical Engineering in Israel1. INTRODUCTIONBiomedical Engineering (BME) in Israel has been active for over 30 years, with several graduate-level programs creating quite a large number of M.Sc. and Ph.D. professionals. Industry, though active in these areas, was actually seeking engineers graduating from the more classical disciplines. The huge increase of the high-tech industry during the 90's created a very large demand for people of BME background, and a continuously increasing understanding that BME is a discipline of its own. With the establishment of MBE undergraduate programs in three large academic universities as well as in colleges, the BME discipline and profession are recognized and properly appreciated. The Israel Society for Medical and Biological Engineering (ISMBE), which is the largest and main professional BME society in Israel, has members from universities, BME industry, and hospitals as well as from other BME organizations. It advocates scientific and professional BME activities within Israel, it represents the profession and its members in Israel, and in international organizations. 2. THE NATIONAL SOCIETYThe Israel Society for Medical and Biological Engineering (ISMBE) was established in 1958, actually in the same year that the first IFMBE meeting convened in Paris. One of the founders of the ISMBE, Prof. Joseph Weinman, was also active in establishing the IFMBE and became one of its Honorary Life Members. In 1969 the ISMBE went through another formal registration, as a non-profit society. In 1979 the ISMBE organized and hosted the International Conference of the IFMBE (in association with the International Organization for Medical Physics) in Jerusalem, Israel. The Society also organized and hosted the Mediterranean countries regional conference MECOMBE'92 in Jerusalem. The ISMBE is the largest body representing the Biomedical Engineers as well as the Clinical Engineers. Additional BME activities are run by the IEEE Israel Section - BME subsection. The Association of Engineers and Architects also has a BME subsection, while the Medical Physics society is working under the umbrella of the Physics Society. Since academic undergraduate programs of Biomedical Engineering opened only in 1999, the majority of members of the ISMBE and the other sister-societies are engineers in other fields who got a M.Sc. degree in Biomedical Engineering, or have been working in the area for many years and went through Continuing Education courses. The ISMBE has a name list of over 800 members, but paying membership is fluctuating around 200-300, depending on the activity from year to year (with people tending to pay their dues only at the annual conference - and not pay yearly on a regular basis). The majority of the members are working in R&D in industry or within the universities, with only a minority of about 20% working in service and maintenance within hospitals or outside vendors who provide such services to the hospitals. While there have been some medium sized manufacturers in operation for over 25-30 years, the last 9 years have seen a significant increase of interest and involvement in Biomedical-Medical equipment, in both development and manufacturing. There are currently around 500 start-ups in this area, at different levels of operation. Thus the classical roles of societies like the ISMBE have become much more important, the roles and goals that have been defined when the Society was established:
Several additional goals have been added since then:
3. EDUCATION, TRAINING, AND ACCREDITATION3.1. Education Graduate level studies in Biomedical Engineering towards M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees have started in Israel in 1968 (at the Technion). Currently there are such programs in 3 universities, with more than 200 graduate students enrolled, most of them performing a research thesis as part of their studies. Graduate students who excel in their studies usually are financially supported by fellowships. Undergraduate studies towards a B.Sc. degree in Biomedical Engineering (4 years program) have started in 1999, at 3 universities and one college. Currently a total of about 200 students start each year, and, since the entrance level is extremely high, about 90% are expected to finish. The undergraduate Biomedical Engineering programs consist of mandatory courses and a wide range of electives. During the first two years students take extended courses in Basic Sciences (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Computers), in Life Sciences (Anatomy, Biochemistry, Cell Biology and Physiology), and in Basic Engineering (Mechanics, Electronics, Biomaterials and Transport Phenomena). The last two years include: elective courses; two Biomedical Engineering laboratory courses; two design courses and two project courses in which students implement their engineering knowledge to analyze and provide solutions to biomedical needs. The projects are carried out in cooperation with the Biomedical industry. In the elective courses, students choose, for example, two out of the following three tracks: (a) Imaging and Medical Equipment (system engineering and control, non-invasive techniques, principles of imaging, signal processing and processing of medical images, Ultrasound and MRI imaging, interventional ultrasound etc.). (b) Movement, Rehabilitation Engineering, Artificial Organs and Implants (research of walking and movement, mechanics of sports, equipment for orthopedic/neurological rehabilitation and aids for the handicapped, surgical implants, bioengineering of cells, tissues and of tissue substitutes, artificial organs); (c) Biomaterial, Biotechnology and Tissue Engineering (biochemical engineering, molecular engineering, biosensors, artificial metabolic organs, controlled drug release biological substitutes). There are also Biomedical Engineering tracks in several classical engineering faculties (like EE, Mechanical Eng. etc.). 3.2. Continuing Education/Training The various universities offer a wide range of courses as Continuing Education courses - in many cases these are graduate level courses that are open to the public and to engineers willing to get training in a specific subject. There is no formal requirement for engineers to accumulate Continuing Education courses during their career - though this topic is currently under review. The ISMBE does organize, though, in addition to its annual national conference (which this year will take place on March 17th, 2004, at the Technion, Haifa), also several workshops, Special Topic Conferences etc. For example - this spring the ISMBE organizes and co-sponsors several one-day Workshops:
In these activities - the lecturers are from both academia and industry, and the audience is also similarly mixed. These activities are usually free to the ISMBE members, but non-members are charged. The annual ISMBE conference is usually a one day meeting, with several sessions which include lecturers from academia, industry and from hospitals. Oral presentations are given as well as posters. For many years this annual meeting was run as part of a national conference that included many of the medical societies. The last 8 years have seen such an increase of interest in the Biomedical Engineering discipline and in the ISMBE annual conference thus it was decided to run this annual conference independently. Quality assurance, as part of clinical engineering, quality audit and accreditation of hospital laboratories, are carried out by Government bodies and private laboratories which are authorized to perform these operations. Most of the personnel in such institutions are people who went through Quality Assurance Engineering graduate set of courses (usually obtaining M.Sc. in Quality Assurance Engineering). 3.3. Certification/Accreditation All university (and college) programs and degrees are approved by the Higher Education Council, which is government-supported public entity. Each university department is subject to review (each 3-5 years) by an international committee. There are no national (government or professional) examinations, or certification of an individual; employers accept the university or college grades as valid indication of the professional competence. An unofficial survey, among BME department heads, faculty, the ISMBE Board of Directors and a large number of ISMBE members, produced a unanimous agreement to participate in a future accreditation program - if it is established. There is of course willingness to share the workload and be part of establishing the guidelines and in the future committees and site-visit responsibilities. 4. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION4.1. Activities in the Field and Contacts with Authorities The Israel Standardization Institute is responsible for promoting initiation of new standards, controlling the oversight of existing standards etc. Due to Israel's small population (~6M), most standards are adopted from international standards - usually U.S or European standards. The ISMBE had no official policy, and did not participate in these activities. ISMBE members, though, are active in various standardization committees and quality assurance bodies. In recent years the ISMBE has intensified its activities as promoter of BME activities within the various national funding institutes - in an effort to establish BME as a stand-alone discipline. These efforts must continue, since currently BME is still regarded as "some activity between Biotechnology, Medicine and Engineering…". This attitude must be changed. 4.2. European and International Activities The ISMBE has been active in international organizations since it was established. As mentioned above, ISMBE organized and hosted the International Conference of the IFMBE (in association with the International Organization for Medical Physics) in Jerusalem, Israel, in 1979,. The Society also organized and hosted the IFMBE Mediterranean countries regional conference MECOMBE'92 in Jerusalem. The Computers in Cardiology International Conference was organized and hosted in Jerusalem in 1989. Many other Medical and Engineering Conferences were held in Israel (but unfortunately this trend was stopped since last year, due to the violence in this region). There are multiple bi-lateral research funding agreements between Israel and various European and other nations. Israel is one of the non-EU countries tht participated in the earlier Framework Programs, and currently participates in the 6th Framework Program covering research, technological development and demonstration activities. The ISMBE also participated in the efforts of creating the European Alliance for Medical and Biological Engineering & Science (EAMBES), and its representatives are actively participating in the Alliance activities.
Dan Adam
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