Otto Schmitt Award
presented to
Basil S. Proimos
for
Exceptional Contributions to the Advancement of the Field of Medical and Biological Engineering
International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering
August 2003
Prof. Proimos received a degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
from the Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 1953, the Master of
Science degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, in
1958 and his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University of
Athens in 1965. From 1959 to 1977 he served as Director of the Medical
Physics Department at the Greek Anticancer Institute in Athens, Greece, and
in 1977 he became Professor of Medicine and Director of the Medical Phys-ics
Department at the University of Patras, Greece. Since 1997 he is Emeri-tus
Professor of Medicine at the University of Patras.
Prof. Proimos's research interests were mainly focused on the physics of
radiotherapy and the development of conformal radiotherapy techniques
using protection of vital organs by absorbers rotating synchronously with the
patient (1957-1960) and by gravity oriented devices (1960-2002). From
1994 to 1997 he was coordinator of a "concerted action" of BIOMED I
called DYNARAD (DYNAmic RADiotherapy) involving 30 radiotherapy
centres within the European Union. Prof. Proimos has published numerous
articles on Physics of Radiotherapy in international refereed
journals, seven technical and scientific books and he holds two patents
for an original radiotherapy unit.
For many years Prof. Proimos was the driving force of European programs
promoting education in Medical Physics and Biomedical
Engineering not only by teaching engineering and medical students at
his university, but as an organiser, coordinator and teacher of a European
course on these subjects, taught in English. This program has
been offered at the University of Patras for 15 years now and about
30 teachers and 30 new students from European universities participate
annually.
In addition, Prof. Proimos was the coordinator of a "Thematic Network"
in the SOCRATES Program of the European Union concerning
Training and Education for Medical Physics and Engineering Reform in
Europe (TEMPERE) involving 38 universities and 10 Scien-tific/
Professional Organisations. He was also the coordinator of a project
for Curriculum Development of an Advanced Course (CDA) in Medical
Physics and Biomedical Engineering in the framework of SOCRATES
involving 30 European universities.
In 1975 Prof. Proimos received the Prize of the "Empiricos Foundation"
in Athens and in 1991 the ERAS-MUS Prize in Brussels, Belgium.
Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of Medicine
University of Patras
Department of Medical Physics
265 00 Patras
Greece
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