Our colleagues gathered in Okayama, Japan
The second Okayama International Medical Engineering Forum (OIMEF '97) was held at Techno Support Okayama in Okayama, Japan on 18-20 February 1997 with the full sponsorship of the Okayama Prefectural Government (Honorary Chairman: Mr. Masahiro Ishii, Governor of Okayama Prefecture; Chairman: Prof. Fumihiko Kajiya, President of IFMBE). The main theme of the Forum was Initiative from Okayama - Challenge of Biomedical Engineering for the 21st Century.
We invited 19 speakers and 9 panelists from Europe, USA, Oceania and Japan and had approximately 800 participants in total. We had a range of sessions related to Biomedical Engineering on
- system dynamics in cardiovascular systems (Drs. Fumihiko Kajiya, Kawasaki Medical School, Japan, Hiroyuki Suga, Okayama University Medical School, Japan, and Helmut Hutten, Graz University of Technology, Austria)
- artificial organs and biosystem control (Drs. Yasunaru Kawashima, National Cardiovascular Center, Japan, Max J.G. Schaldach, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany, and Stephen Hunyor, Sydney Royal North Shore Hospital, Australia)
- biomechanics -micro and macro- (Dr. Kozaburo Hayashi, Osaka University, Japan)
- advanced biosensing (Drs. Tatsuo Togawa, Tokyo Medical & Dental University, Japan, Jean-Pierre Morucci, INSERM, France, and Robert Plonsey, Duke University, USA)
- medical information systems (Dr. Niilo Saranummi, VTT Information Technology, Finland)
- cellular and tissue engineering (Drs. Akira Kamiya, University of Tokyo, Japan, Ivar Giaever, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA, and Peter Rolfe, Keele University, UK)
- medical engineering and support systems in Europe and the USA (Drs. Dov Jaron, National Institute of Health & Drexel University, USA, David Blumenthal, Harvard Medical School, USA, Viviane Thevenin, European Commission, and Steven A. Shaya, Johnson & Johnson, USA)
- Special Lecture by Dr. Masao Ito, Chairman of Science Council of Japan, on Restructuring of Research Systems Required in Japan for the Forthcoming Century.
A panel discussion on International Network of Medical Engineering Research was coordinated by Dr. Masao Saito, Tokyo Denki University Japan along with distinguished panelists (Drs. Kazuhiko Atsumi, Suzuka University of Medical Science & Technology, Japan, Hiroshi Kanai, Sophia University, Japan, Jos A.E. Spaan, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Richard L.G. Kirsner, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, Richard Kitney, Imperial College, UK, Janie M. Fouke, National Science Foundation, USA., Maciej Nalecz, International Center for Biocybernetics, Poland, and Alan Murray, Freeman Hospital, UK).
Many IFMBE members were involved in this forum. We are happy to see that all participants found the forum quite informative, stimulative and fruitful and hope that the forum will lead us to the further advancement of Biomedical Engineering not only in Okayama but also in the rest of the world.
We have also cultivated the friendship among the participants through the Governor's Reception (see photo opposite), the Banquet, and the Chairman's Reception, as well as the family sight-seeing tour kindly offered by Okayama Prefecture during the Forum. Again, we really appreciate your participation and look forward to the next opportunity.
SEIICHI MOCHIZUKI
Secretary in Chief, Chairman's Office, OIMEF'97.
Okayama
International Medical Engineering Forum - OIMEF '97 Okayama, Japan, 17-19
February 1997
Marijke
Lensing celebrated her birthday in February during her stay in Okayama in
relation to OIMEF '97 and the IFMBE Council meeting. Marijke runs the IFMBE
secretariat and is manager of the Department of Medical Physics at the Academic
Medical Center in Amsterdam. She runs the written ballots, keeps track of all
the correspondence, provides information on the IFMBE and takes care of the
IFMBE web page. Marijke has a wide interest in different countries with their
cultures and she loves art. She is currently taking a course on the history of
art. It is important to the IFMBE that she relaxes well in the coming holiday as
much will be asked from her around the Nice meeting. The Administrative Council
wishes her a Happy Birthday