CORAL: Latin American Regional Council on Biomedical Engineering

Some years ago, the IFMBE and the IEEE/EMBS jointly encouraged the biomedical engineering communities in the Latin-American countries to establish a more formal co-operation arrangement. The result of this was CORAL. When the IFMBE established a regional working group structure some years later, it was natural that CORAL had that role in Latin America. Being a part of the IFMBE structure CORAL receives a modest annual sum towards its operating expenses from the IFMBE. For the period from Nice to Chicago (1997 – 2000) our liaison person in CORAL is Professor Antonio F.C. Infantosi who is also a member of the IFMBE Administrative Council. In the following he reports on CORAL activities during the three-year period from 1994 to 1997.

The Ninth Administrative Committee Meeting of the Latin American Regional Council on Biomedical Engineering - CORAL IX takes place in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, Mexico, during the First Latin-American Conference on Biomedical Engineering (11 - 14 November 1998).

The previous annual meetings were held in Cuba (1995), Colombia (1996) and Venezuela (1997). The Cuban meeting (CORAL VI, Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba, 25 April 1995) took place during the VI Latin-American Symposium on Biomedical Engineering with participants from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba,Honduras, Mexico and Venezuela. The main decisions/activities were:

To admit the Colombian Society as member of CORAL;
To approve the use of the Brazilian Society electronic mailing list to better integrate and advertise the biomedical engineering activities in Latin-America and throughout the world;
To support the Brazilian Society in the organisation of a special edition of the Brazilian Journal on Biomedical Engineering dedicated to Latin-America;
To search for financial support to be awarded to the best article of this special edition (support one of the authors to attend NICE' 97)
To study the possibiliy of organising a Regional Conference on Biomedical Engineering.

In Colombia (CORAL VII, Bucaramanga, Colombia, 10 October 1996) the meeting took place during the VII Latin-American Symposium on Biomedical Engineering with participation from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. The main decisions/activities were:

To disaffiliate the Paraguayan Association as member of CORAL;
To create a website for CORAL;
CORAL will not give any certication in Clinical Engineering;
The Mexican Society would most probably be the organiser of The First Regional Conference on Biomedical Engineering. This decision will be confirmed in the next CORAL meeting;
A partial report of the special edition of The Brazilian Journal on Biomedical Engineering dedicated to Latin-America was presented and approved;
A financial support (US$ 500.00) to be awarded to the best article of this special edition (support one of the authors to attend NICE' 97) will be given by CORAL;
Both the IFMBE and the IEEE/EMBS are still in debt to CORAL. The activities of the Council depends on these payments and therefore should be requested immediately;
Jorge Monzon (Argentina) and Isnardo Torres Rivera were elected Vice-President and Secretary, respectively. The new vogals will be Brazil and Venezuela. A report of this meeting was presented by myself at the IFMBE Secretaries Committee meeting in Amsterdam held in conjunction with the IEEE/EMBS conference in 1996.

In Venezuela CORAL VIII (Valencia, Venezuela, 11 June 1997) the meeting took place during the VI Venezuelan Colloquium on Biomedical Engineering with participation from: Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela. The main decisions/activities were:

To admit the Peruvian Society as member of CORAL;
To create a website specific for CORAL, although some Latin-American web-pages already refer to CORAL, for example http://fuantitan.uranino.edu.co, http://vallarta.fciencias.unam.mx/smib.htm and http://www.gbba.usb.ve
To advertise possible agreements between Latin-American institutions, such as the UAM - Mexico/ UAN - Colombia e, o multinacional, and international projects collaborations, such as the Alpha-Beta Project (Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Spain, France and North Ireland);
To request the support of PAHO and GTZ to establish academic and research agreements between Latin-American countries (including also European countries if that is the case).
It was confirmed that the Mexican Society will organise the First Latin-American Conference on Biomedical Engineering in Mazatlan, 11 - 14 November 1998;
The final report of the special edition of The Brazilian Journal on Biomedical Engineering dedicated to Latin-America was presented and approved;
Although the financial needs to cover the costs of this special edition have been requested, the CORAL does not have a budget to support it;
IEEE/EMBS has already paid but IFMBE is still in debt with CORAL.

Prof. Antonio Fernando Catelli Infantosi, PhD

Biomedical Engineering Program, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, PO Box 68510 21945-970 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil.

Tel: +55 21 5605108; Fax: +55 21 2906626

Email: afci@peb.ufrj.br