President's ColumnJoachim H. NagelAssuming the Presidency of the Federation has been 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 few issues that need continual 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. 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 think that through ongoing communication with the Secretary General (who is also the editor of the IFMBE News), and a permanent flow of information from the IFMBE members we were always on top of things and that we have kept all members well informed about the important developments in the area of Medical and Biological Engineering . 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 BME and our professions on an international level, and to help our member organisation to do the same on regional and national levels. However, the ever increasing number of emails is creating a major problem. Answering some 100 emails a day would not leave any time for other important activities, so there is no choice other than sometimes asking those who send the emails for some patience before they receive an answer. When I assumed office as the president, I mentioned that IFMBE will be facing serious challenges in the years ahead. To be prepared, we need, among other things, to optimize 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 interactions 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. In my first year as the President I have spent a lot of time and effort on this issue and in the following I will report on the achievements and future plans. We are working on improved IFMBE structures and, given the enormous amount of administrative work that needs to be done to keep IFMBE functioning, we had decided to explore 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. We had also decided to set up a new, dynamic homepage, designed for improved communication and membership services, offering the possibilities of group work, discussion forums and easier electronic voting through the internet. As it turned out during the past twelve months, all these initiatives do not lead us anywhere if we do not have the necessary number of volunteers that are aware of their responsibilities and working hard for the benefit of the Federation. A non-functional ex-treasurer for example, together with a bank that was absolutely not cooperative was enough to block most of our efforts, and it took me an incredible number of working hours to get things going again, and we still have not yet recovered completely from these problems. One year after the change of treasurers we are not yet able to submit an audit of the IFMBE finances for the term of the previous treasurer to the General Assembly as it has been requested by the GA in Sydney. Another issue that I raised a year ago was that we are currently experiencing tremendous, awesome changes 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 parts will 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, maintaining the prospects for a bright future of 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, will already in its first phase include the European IFMBE member societies, other national and European societies, as well as academic institutions and research institutes that are active in the fields of artificial organs, biomaterials, bioinformatics and clinical engineering, areas that have their own international organizations. As a member of the interim Executive Board of EAMBES and interim Chair of its Academic Division, I have assumed some of the responsibilities 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 an international, 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. Assuming office I had also accentuated 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 foremost responsibilities of IFMBE. I can inform you that in the last few years we have been very successful with our publications and publicity initiatives. We have created some major publicity through publications and increased presence as sponsor of conferences and main player at WHO events and initiatives, thus substantially increasing public awareness of biomedical engineering in general and specifically of IFMBE. We have improved and expanded our own publications, and we are currently in the process of discussing major advances with regard to our journal, MBEC. Three years ago, we established the IFMBE Proceedings series, of which we have published seven volumes so far, and four volumes are scheduled for 2005. We have revitalised 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". We adopted the title "Series in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering". So far, 37 books have been published in the series (http://www.iop.org), two more to appear later on this year. Please remember the series if you or colleagues of yours are going to write a book, handbook or textbook. The series provides a comprehensive library for all working in medical physics and biomedical engineering and the series Editors to contact are C. G. Orton, J. H. Nagel, and J. G. Webster. One of the important goals of our initiatives is that independent of region, country, or the specific field of work, no one should need to ask the question of what they are getting out of their society being a member of IFMBE. Benefits have to be optimised such that they become self-evident to each and every member of the constituent societies. To this end, we need to continuously monitor the services we offer, our efficiency and structure. We have started to look into updating the IFMBE Strategic Plan and the structure of our committees, Richard Kirsner has prepared a paper analysing the structure and efficiency of our committees, working groups and divisions and suggesting changes with the aim of substantially improving efficiency and membership services. The Administrative Council has started a discussion on how to accomplish the necessary changes. So, where do we want to go during the next two years? I think that with the initiatives that I have just outlined, we are moving into the right direction. We will continue this course, re-establish, restructure and augment the activities of our divisions, working groups and committees where we have not been sufficiently active or efficient 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 sensitively 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 more than 75,000 professionals, including biomedical/clinical engineers and physicians, but many important countries and societies are not yet part of our organisation. There is almost a whole continent missing, Africa, where there are so many health care problems and our engagement is so important, the entire continent is only represented by two BME societies. That does not mean that we are not active in Africa, we have a large number of projects going on in cooperation with WHO, and currently we are supporting the formation of an African Union for Medical and Biological Engineering and Sciences that will encompass numerous African countries and wants to become a member of the IFMBE community. Still, the IFMBE is THE international representative of Biomedical Engineering, and as such should strive to lead a nd shape the future of this 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 and wealthy countries 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 during my term as Vice-President, 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, societal 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 relies on a large number of volunteers who need to work hard and possess huge amounts 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. One very important point in IFMBE pursuing its mission is our cooperation with WHO, a very successful partnership that, in spite of many ongoing common projects, did in not find the deserved attention in the past. In order to renew this partnership, we are currently in the process of working out a proposal for future co-operation with the WHO. In addition to our previous areas of co-operation, e-health and international standards for medical technologies, patient safety, certification and regulation for Clinical Engineers will be important topics. What is the Rationale for cooperation with the World Health Organization? WHO's aim of "attainment of the highest level of health by all people" is also the IFMBE's as far as medical and biological engineering and science may support it. National, regional and global strategies supported by WHO, and activities to attain improved health care are in the interest of the IFMBE also. The wide competences of the Federation in all areas of medical and biological engineering and science are most valuable in various activities to achieve the above goals, be it through joint projects or wider WHO initiatives that include IFMBE. In May 2002, the World Health Assembly passed resolution WHA55.18, which urged countries to pay the greatest possible attention to patient safety, to establish and strengthen science-based systems necessary for improving patients' safety and quality of care, including the monitoring of drugs, medical equipment and technology. The resolution requested WHO to carry out a series of actions to promote patient safety, including: the development of global norms and standards, the promotion of evidence-based policies and mechanisms to recognise excellence in patient safety, to encourage research and support efforts by Member States in developing patient safety policy and practice. The resolution has ensured that the drive for safer health care is now becoming a worldwide endeavour, bringing significant benefits to patients in countries rich and poor, developed and developing, in all corners of the globe. Several countries have now initiated efforts to tackle patient safety issues. The 57th World Health Assembly held in 2004 agreed that a World Alliance would be a significant step in the struggle to improve the safety of health care in all Member States. It recognised that, at present, no single player has the expertise, funding or research and delivery capabilities to tackle the full range of patient safety issues on a worldwide scale. A World Alliance for Patient Safety would provide a mechanism to build capacity, decrease duplication of investment and activities, and benefit by economies of scale. Such an alliance would also provide an environment in which major new initiatives could arise to help catalyse a large-scale and more sustainable response. In close cooperation with the Department of Health of the United Kingdom, and partnership with the Department of Health and Human Services of the USA and other government agencies worldwide, WHO will launch the World Alliance for Patient Safety on October 27, 2004 in Washington, DC. The event will bring together senior government officials, representatives from government agencies, civil society organisations and WHO departments. IFMBE having the expertise, the resources, the research capabilities and delivery potential to tackle all patient safety issues related to medical devices and equipment, and technological aspects of the essential health technologies, (including the management and maintenance of healthcare technology as well as means to facilitate the access to medical devices and to aid the transfer of technology and being active in the development and application of international norms and standards as essential tools to ensure the quality and safety of medical devices), has offered its support for the initiative and has been invited to become a member of the Alliance (http://www.who.int/patientsafety/en/).
Conferences In addition to the increasing number of high quality scientific conferences that IFMBE is sponsoring or endorsing, we have entered into a partnership with the World Health Care Congress Europe, which is focusing on global best practices for improved health care delivery and outcomes. The conference, taking place on April 7th and 8th 2005, in Paris, France, will bring together over 400 CEO, CFO, COO, and CIO executives from the key organisations that are advancing health care in Europe: providers, payers, suppliers, policy-makers and health officials. A two-day networking opportunity, the event will feature visionary keynote addresses, controversial debates, dynamic panel discussions, case studies, tutorials and informal roundtable discussions. Six summits - including a Health Ministers' Summit - will give attendees a unique opportunity to discuss pertinent issues in depth and to determine actionable plans with their colleagues (http://www.worldcongress.com).
Awards Approving an initiative of our SG, Ratko Magjarevic, the Administrative Council also established the IFMBE Young Investigator Competition. At all Regional IFMBE Conferences, Young Investigator Paper Awards will be given for the three best papers presented by investigators under the age of 35 working in the field of biomedical engineering to recognise excellence in a conference contribution. The criteria are originality, clarity and potential impact on practical applications or theoretical foundations.
Finances I thank you all for the support that I have experienced during my first year as the IFMBE President and I urge you to please continue supporting the Federation.
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