From the PresidentAssuming the Presidency of the Federation is an extraordinary privilege, a huge responsibility and an exciting challenge, especially at a time where Biomedical Engineering and Sciences are developing at a breathtaking pace. There is no aspect of our discipline and our professions that is not moving ahead rapidly. Research and education, training, mobility, industrial development, ethical issues, health care systems, new technologies, international coordination, cooperation and support for developing countries are just a some of the issues that need permanent attention and IFMBE leadership. Only with the help of a well functioning team, the officers, the Administrative Council, and many other volunteers can the President successfully accomplish this formidable mission. We have an excellent team and I am looking forward to a demanding term as the President of IFMBE. For the last three years I have served IFMBE as Vice President and President Elect, a rather strange position within our organisation. The President Elect acts as the Vice President, but other than supporting the President, there are no specific tasks and there is no budget for the Vice President. This does not mean that the Vice Presidentship is a cosy waiting position. On the contrary, I would say from my personal experience, but this definitely depends on the pace set by the President. Nevertheless, there is no request for a report to the Administrative Council or the General Assembly (something we demand from the other officers), and thus there is no accountability for his or her activities; at least in as much as the statutes are concerned. Reality might be quite different, and I have made myself accountable by delivering a printed version of my position statement at the General Assembly in Chicago before I was elected, asking the delegates to remind me of the promises I have made - if necessary. I have now been asked to present a statement in the IFMBE News outlining my intentions and goals for the next three years and I will base this statement on what I have promised and predicted at the 2000 elections and on what we have achieved since then. I had announced that I will call upon each of you to keep me informed about developments anywhere in the world that are important to you and thus to IFMBE. I have done this as far as it was possible from my side, and the texts of emails sent and received since Chicago occupies more than 5 GByte of memory. I have been working closely with the editors of the IFMBE NEWS, and I think that we were always on top of things and that we have kept our members well informed about the important developments in the area of BME. I will continue my efforts to stay in direct contact with all IFMBE members to make sure that we will not miss any needs or opportunities to promote Medical and Biological Engineering and our professions on an international level and to support our member organisation to do the same on regional and national levels. My second point in Chicago was that IFMBE will be facing serious challenges in the years ahead. To be prepared, we need, among other things, to optimise the organisational structure of IFMBE as well as communication, making better use of modern communication technologies to interact and to bring IFMBE officers, council, divisions, working groups and membership closer together. I stated that in our interaction, we are no longer limited to the 3-year rhythm of our general assemblies, and we will have to capitalise on these possibilities with an up-to-date, efficient management of the Federation, emphasizing improved service to the constituent societies and to all of their individual members world-wide. At the time I said this, I did not yet know how soon we would actually enter the stage of virtual GA meetings and electronic voting in the context of the WC2006 site selection and some important changes of our statutes and bylaws. Furthermore, we have a new homepage designed for improved communication and membership services and we are currently sorting out bids for a communications system, offering the possibilities of group work, discussion forums and easier electronic voting through the internet. We are working on improved IFMBE structures and given the enormous amount of administrative work that needs to be done to keep IFMBE functioning -mainly by the Secretary General-, we are exploring possibilities to set up a permanent office which would also be helpful in maintaining continuity, and make the interaction between IFMBE and its members easier. The goal of these initiatives is that independent of region, country, or the specific field of work, no one should need to ask the question "what am I getting from being a part of the society and a member of IFMBE?" Benefits have to be optimised so that they become self-evident to each and every member of the constituent societies. My third statement was that we are currently experiencing tremendous change within the world of Medical and Biological Engineering, mainly characterised by the evolution of new working areas, such as cellular and tissue engineering, bionics, nanotechnology and others. On the down side, we may see some parts of BME drifting away from IFMBE. It is however, imperative that the various aspects stand together, and I will make every effort to further develop a unified voice of Biomedical Engineering, an umbrella for all areas of medical and biological engineering and sciences including all current directions as well as newly evolving fields, thus maintaining the prospects for a bright future for our professions. As a first step towards achieving these goals, IFMBE has initiated the formation of the European Alliance for Medical and Biological Engineering and Science (EAMBES), which, as an all-inclusive umbrella organisation representing all fields of MBES, already includes the European IFMBE member societies, other national and European societies in the fields of artificial organs, biomaterials, bioinformatics and clinical engineering, as well as the majority of academic BME programs and research institutions. As an interim member of the Executive Board and chair of its Academic Division, I have assumed some of the responsibility to get EAMBES on its way to normal operations. IFMBE is prepared to act as an incubator enabling similar developments in other regions, and will maintain close cooperation with the regional Alliances, going far beyond simple membership in the Federation. We need, of course, to initiate a similar "one voice" movement on a global level, too. Whether it will be within IFMBE or IUPESM, I will do my best to promote an international umbrella for all areas of our discipline and all organisations representing the various parts of Medical and Biological Engineering and Science. My fourth statement was that Biomedical Engineering has established itself as a key section within the life sciences, a driving force for engineering as well as medical achievements. Creating the professional and public awareness that enables the well-deserved recognition for our profession is a prerequisite for sustained flourishing of Biomedical Engineering. As such, it is one of the biggest responsibilities of IFMBE. Three years later I can inform you that we have been very successful with our publications and publicity initiatives. We have created some major publicity through press releases and through articles in newspapers, journals and magazines, thus substantially increasing public awareness of BME. We have contributed to the many articles on BME that have recently been published in practically all important scientific magazines, the latest being Nature with three articles on careers and recruitment. We have also improved and expanded our own publications. Two years ago, we established the IFMBE Proceedings series, of which you have just received the fourth volume, the WC2003 Proceedings, if you were in Sydney. We have revitalized and changed the name of the IFMBE/IOMP book series, produced by the Institute of Physics Publishing, which was originally published as the "Medical Science Series" and later on as "Medical Physics Series". Last year we adopted the title "Series in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering". So far, 31 books have been published in the series, two more to appear later on this year. Please remember the series if you are going to write a book, hand-book or textbook. So, where do I want to lead you during the next three years? I think that with the initiatives that I have just outlined, we are moving in the right direction. We will continue this course, re-establish and augment the activities of our divisions and committees where we have not been sufficiently active in the recent past, and will add new activities where required by future developments. With the growth of other scientific and professional societies in the field of Medical and Biological Engineering and Sciences and the appearance of regional alliances, IFMBE might lose some of its role if we do not react quickly and effectively to the ongoing changes. In spite of successful work in the past, this is a time of great challenges to our organisation. We need to recruit other countries and other areas of MBES to join the Federation. We presently have 50 member societies representing some 50,000 professionals, including biomedical engineers and physicians, but many important countries and societies are not yet part of our organisation. Nevertheless, the IFMBE is the international representative of Biomedical Engineering, and as such should strive to lead and shape the future of our profession of ours. IFMBE needs to set and defend high standards of the profession, of education and training, publications and of its meetings. As an international federation, it should, in cooperation with WHO and including applications of e-health, lead an effort to develop methods and ways making sure that people in less fortunate can benefit from good healthcare. As the leading organisation in the field, it must guide the profession into the engineering and scientific work on cellular and molecular levels, concurrently with the effort to understand the roles of these micro-systems for the whole human body and its function, to explore ways to use the new knowledge for medical diagnostics and the prevention and therapy of diseases, while guarding the ethics of such studies and medical interventions. Chairing the IFMBE and the IUPESM Merit Awards Committees, I noticed the huge pool of expertise and experience that we have among our senior colleagues. We need to draw on these resources and raise the public awareness and our influence on professional, social and political developments. To this end, we need to establish the instrument of generating and publishing IFMBE Position Statements on the current hot spots in research, education, the healthcare systems, including ethical issues, in short, all issues that are of interest for the BME community, the public, governments, and last but not least, funding agencies. In order to achieve our goals, IFMBE needs to rely on a large number of volunteers who need to work hard and with a very high level of dedication. One of the rewards of contributing to committees, working groups and divisions, is recognition by the BME community, including important name recognition, but this should not be a one way street and the sole motivation to volunteer. There must also be sizeable benefits for the Federation. If you wish to accept this challenge and you wish to actively support the Federation, please let me know. I will strongly rely on your help. I feel very honoured to be given the opportunity to serve as your President and I am well aware of the responsibility coming with this commitment. While I will strive to satisfy your expectations, I wish to express my gratitude to the former President, Dov Jaron, the officers and AC members as well as all other members of IFMBE who have supported me throughout the last three years. Joachim Nagel Joachim H. Nagel, D.Sc., CPhys FInstP
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