IUPESM Awardees in Chicago

IUPESM has an Awards Committee, which in between the world congresses asks for nominations for IUPESM Awardees and decides on the recipients of the Medical Physics and Medical and Biological Engineering Awards. These awards are then presented in a special session during the next world congress. In Chicago the awardees were Drs Keith Boddy and Masao Saito. In the following the citations that were read in the awards ceremony by Drs Nuesslin and Kajiya.

IUPESM – Medical Physics Award to Prof. Keith Boddy

The IOMP Awards and Honours Committee decided to honour Prof. Keith Boddy, the outgoing president of IUPESM, by presenting him with the IUPESM Award for the year 2000, thus acknowledging the outstanding contribution of Keith to the professional development of medical physics and biomedical engineering. As he stated in his last presidential letter in the IOMP bulletin Medical Physics World, IUPESM, in being accepted as a Full Member of the International Council of Science (ICSU), won an historic "Oscar". When we remember the discussions we had in the last Council in Nice three years ago, most of us experienced bad vibes about the future of IUPESM, but not Keith, who proposed a wealth of creative ideas to keep IUPESM alive. The acceptance of IUPESM to ICSU, the scientific equivalent of the House of Lords, represents a massive achievement, and was just reward for all his efforts. We owe Keith Boddy a great debt for his never-ending personal involvement and continuing persistence in achieving this goal, which was set by the founding Officers nearly 20 years ago. All medical physicists and biomedical engineers, all organisations forming IUPESM, IOMP and IFMBE, should feel challenged now to follow in Keith's footsteps to ensure a prosperous future for our profession world-wide.

IUPESM – Medical and Biological Engineering Award to Prof. Masao Saito

Dr Masao Saito was engaged in the study of circuit theory as well as the development of medical instrumentation in the early stages around 1995. In his first visit to the USA, he was involved in the investigation of the effect of electromagnetic fields on the human body, which was a hot topic then, and was invited to present his theoretical results at the Fourth International Conference on Medical Electronics in 1961.   

Around this time, he concentrated on establishing the International Federation for Medical Electronics (now the International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering, IFMBE), as well as the Japanese National Society. In 1965, he greatly contributed at the Sixth ICMBE, Tokyo, as a member of the Secretariat. He continued to exhibit his leadership in organising scientific activities, in societies and committees, especially in IFMBE as an Officer since 1973, as the President in 1979-1982 and as an Honorary Member since 1985. He has also encouraged development of medical and biological engineering activities in Asian countries.   

As a scientist, he has been engaged in a tremendous number of research activities, by collaborating with colleagues in the school of medicine, from basic aspects to applications. His contributions concern the properties of biomaterials, electrodes and transducers, measurement, safety, signal theory, bioelectromagnetics, ultrasound, cancer therapy, biofeedback, and technological support for the elderly and childcare. He served as a chairman in finalising the protection standard for electromagnetic fields as well as drafting a large number of Japanese Industrial Standards, and recently in steering almost all technological planning and practices of social welfare for the elderly in Japan. He has also encouraged a large number of graduate students to become excellent educators and researchers.