History of SAMB

This Committee now generally known as SAMB was formed in 1965. The exchange of information afforded by membership of SAMB has achieved a greater degree of collaboration between the various organisations resulting in an increasing proportion of jointly sponsored meetings during which the combined audiences have had opportunities for fruitful discussion.

History

The life sciences have always been dependent on the physical sciences and technology. Advances in theoretical knowledge have steadily eroded subject boundaries and resulted in significant overlap; while new technologies have made possible sophisticated instruments, whose successful development and application depend on the designer and user evolving a common area of understanding.

Most of those involved in the multidisciplinary activities maintained contact with their appropriate professional organisation; but many of them formed themselves into smaller groups representing their special interests.

During the 1950s and 1960s it became apparent that meetings and conferences on similar topics were being organised independently by different bodies, often at the same time, each being unaware of the initiative of the other. Apart from wasting time and effort and bringing in small audiences, the proliferation of meetings tended to perpetuate an insular approach within an inherently co-operative endeavour.

In 1958 ten persons from Great Britain attended the First International Conference an Medical Electronics at the Nouvelle Faculté de Médécine, Paris. It was held under the aegis of the Council of International Organisations of Medical Sciences and the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Sciences, New York, consequent on the initiative of Dr Vladimir Zvorykin. Immediately after the conference, at an informal meeting at the Institution of Electrical Engineers to review its results, proposals to bring together the many workers, experts, medical practitioners and engineers, and to develop a central clearing house for exchange of information through a British National Group, were tabled. To fulfil those functions an organisation with a liaison role was envisaged to which the various royal medical colleges, engineering and science institutions would become member organisations.

In 1960 the Biological Engineering Society was formed, and affiliated to the International Federation for Medical Electronics (Medical and Biological Engineering in 1965). A UK National Committee for Medical Physics was formed in 1963 and affiliated to the International Organisation of Medical Physics formed in that year.

During the following year, about a dozen other bodies began discussing the formation of a UK Council for Medical and Biological Engineering; but before it could he put into effect a proposal was made for a single National Group to be established. Thus in October 1965 the United Kingdom Liaison Committee for Sciences Allied to Medicine and Biology came into being.

Objects

  1. To provide a forum for societies and organisations interested in the application of Sciences Allied to Medicine and Biology; to meet and be aware of each others' interests and desire to collaborate; to disseminate information regarding projected meetings and to effect co-ordination between the various interested societies.
  2. To take such action as may supplement the activities of the participating societies by stimulating interest in, and spreading the knowledge and development of Sciences Allied to Medicine and Biology.
  3. To initiate when desirable meetings on topics of common interest to participating societies.
  4. To collate information on the activities of relevant scientific societies, as well as of these of the participating societies and to circulate these to the participating societies in the form of a Calendar.

Meetings Organised by SAMB
Congresses (C) and One-Day Symposia (S).

YearTitleType
1968 Production and Hazards of a Hyperbaric Oxygen Environment C
1972 Inter-Disciplinary Problems of Open Heart Surgery and After-Care C
1975 Education & Training of Technologists in the NHS S
1975 Scientific Aids in Hospital Diagnosis C
1976 Standards for Safety 1978 Scientific Aids in Hospital Treatment C
1981 Health and Safety at Work Related to Health Care S
1983 Microprocessors in Hospital Practice S
1987 Strict Liability for Products Utilised in Medicine and Biology S
1990 MBIT-90, Medical and Biological Implant Technology C
1991 Toxic and Hazardous Waste Disposal S
1991 Achievements and Challenges S
1992 Training in Technological Support of Clinical Services S
1993 MBIT-93, Medical and Biological Implant Technology C
1993 The NHS Internal Market: how has it affected you? S
1994 Organisational and Clinical Audit S
1996 MBIT-96, Medical and Biological Implant Technology C
1997 Rehabilitation after Spinal Injury S
1999 MBNT-99, Medical and Biological New Technology C

Member Organisations of SAMB

  • Association of Optometrists
  • British Computer Society
  • British Institute of Radiology
  • British Orthoptic Society
  • College of Radiographers
  • Electro-Physiological Technologists Association
  • The Ergonomics Society
  • Institute of Measurement and Control
  • Institute of Agricultural Medicine and Rehabilitation
  • Institute of Physics
  • Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine
  • Institution of Chemical Engineers
  • Institution of Electrical Engineers
  • Institution of Mechanical Engineers
  • International Society of Prosthetics and Orthotics
  • Royal College of Radiologists
  • School of Postgraduate Studies in Medical and Health Care
  • Society of Cardiological Science and Technology
  • Society for Experimental Biology
  • Society of Perfusionists of Great Britain and Ireland
  • The Chartered Society of Physiotherapy