regional biomedical engineering from a global perspective

April 22, 2023

REGIONAL BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Herbert F. Voigt, Ph.D.Professor, Biomedical Engineering

Boston University, USAPresident, International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE)

1st EAMBES Fellow Symposium: "The European Potential in Engineering for Health“ Belgium Academy of Science

April 22, 2023

Regional Differences facing the Medical & Biological Engineering Profession I

• Resource-poor vs. Resource-rich Nations– Quality and abundance of clean water and food– Access to health care:

• Primary and Specialty Care, including diagnostics, medications & therapies

• Imaging technology as well as medical devices• General quality of the health care infrastructure

– Vulnerability to internal & external threats to homeland security

• Enormous resources are being committed to develop preventive capabilities for a wide spectrum of real and perceived threats


April 22, 2023

Regional Differences facing the Medical & Biological Engineering Profession II

• Biomedical Engineering vs. Clinical Engineering– Asia Pacific Rim countries have been certifying Clinical Engineers

for decades– Latin America and Africa need basic infrastructure that includes

biomedical engineering techs to work in hospitals, clinics, villages to maintain medical equipment

– US debates on certification of Clinical Engineers (and Biomedical Engineers) continue

– In Europe, efforts continue to harmonize the educational expectations of biomedical & clinical engineers working within the European Community


April 22, 2023

Regional Differences facing the Medical & Biological Engineering Profession III

• Medical Device, Drug and Food Regulations– In USA, the FDA is seen as crippling innovation and delaying

introducing both medical and drugs into the market place. • “Valley of Death” for the Medical Device Industry• Deciding safety and introduction of Genetically-modified organisms into

the food chain• Expensive clinical trials moving outside of FDA jurisdiction to Europe,

Asia and other world regions– In Europe, only safety, not efficacy, of new medical devices is

required.• “Missing mile” is Europe’s “Valley of Death”• Recent recall of the FDA-rejected J&J artificial hips that were introduced

into Europe, is an example of why international perspectives are required1st EAMBES Fellow Symposium: "The European Potential in Engineering for Health“

Belgium Academy of Science

April 22, 2023 1st EAMBES Fellow Symposium: "The European Potential in Engineering for Health“ Belgium Academy of Science

Regional Differences facing the Medical & Biological Engineering Profession IV

• Educational and Professional Issues– Training of Medical and Biological Engineers– Training and Certifying Clinical Engineers – Training & Certifying Biomed Techs– Accreditation Processes (ABET in USA)– Medical Profession Training – Cultural differences– Ethical Issues

• Should Biomedical Engineers participate in Judicial Execution?


Essentially:1) The IFMBE is an Non-governmental Organization (NGO) for the World Health Organization.2) The IFMBE is uniquely situated to influence the delivery of health care to both resource-poor and resource-rich Nations.


IFMBE Affiliated Organizations

IFMBE Membership• The IFMBE is a federation of 53 national and

6 transnational BME societies, with more than 120,000 members all over the world

• These are currently organized under an IFMBE Societies Committee

• We intend to regionalize this organization under a new structure called a

“Council of Societies”

April 22, 20231st EAMBES Fellow Symposium: "The European Potential in Engineering for Health“ Belgium Academy of Science

April 22, 2023

Argentina Estonia Malaysia Thailand

Australia Finland Mexico Ukraine

Austria France The Netherlands United Kingdom

Belgium Germany Nigeria United States

Brazil Greece Norway Venezuela

Bulgaria Hong Kong Poland (2)

Canada Hungary Portugal Transnational Orgs.China Iceland Serbia / Montenegro ACCE

China - Taipei Ireland Singapore CAHTMA

Columbia Israel Slovakia EAMBES

Croatia Italy (2) Slovenia ESEM

Cuba Japan South Africa ICMCC

Cyprus Korea Spain IEEE - EMBS

Czech Republic Latvia Sweden

Denmark Lithuania Switzerland


IFMBE Affiliated Organizations

April 22, 2023

IFMBE Regions


NorthAmerican RegionCentral and South American Region (CORAL Working Group) Asia-Pacific Rim

Working Group

European Region (EAMBES)

April 22, 2023

IFMBE Affiliated OrganizationsArgentina Estonia Malaysia Thailand













Denmark Lithuania Switzerland1st EAMBES Fellow Symposium: "The European Potential in Engineering for Health“


Central and South American Region (CORAL Working Group)

April 22, 2023
















North American Region

April 22, 2023
















Asia-Pacific Rim Working Group

April 22, 2023

IFMBE Regions


NorthAmerican RegionCentral and South American Region (Coral Working Group) Asia-Pacific Rim

Working Group

European Region (EAMBES & others)

April 22, 2023
















European Region 31 Countries! (EAMBES and others)

April 22, 2023

IFMBE Mission• The objectives of the International Federation for Medical

and Biological Engineering are scientific, technological, literary and educational.

• The IFMBE’s mission is to encourage, support, represent and unify the world-wide Medical and Biological Engineering Community in order to promote health and the quality of life through the advancement of research, development, application and management of technology.

• Within the fields of medical, clinical and biological engineering, IFMBE aims are to encourage research and the application of knowledge, to disseminate information and promote collaboration.



IFMBE Goals 1

• To act as the leader in representing the international community of medical and biological engineering.

• To promote the development of the medical and biological engineering profession.

• To strengthen the recognition and to rise awareness of the profession in the public domain.


IFMBE Goals 2

• To advance collaboration between national, international and transnational societies and organizations, industry, governments and non-governmental organizations engaged in health care and in biomedical research and its applications

• To recommend policies and provide guidelines in appropriate professional, educational and ethical areas

April 22, 2023

IFMBEGeneral Assembly

AC

Conferences

Federation JournalFinance

Constitution & BylawsPublications & Publicity

Societies

Women in MBE

CommitteesWorking GroupsDivisions

Asian-PacificCORAL

Developing Countries

Cellular Engineering

Clinical Engineering

HealthcareTechnology Assessment

International Academy

CurrentIFMBE

Structure

Industry

Others/Ethics

Global Citizen Safety

IFMBE Strategic Planning Meeting, Brussels


IFMBE Administrative Council

• The affairs of the Federation are administered by an Administrative Council (AC), whose voting members are:– the officers,– the immediate Past-President, and– eight members, elected by the General Assembly from

the membership of the Member Organisations.


Administrative Council 2009 - 2012• Officers:

Prof. Herbert F. Voigt, USA, PresidentProf. Ratko Magjarevic, Croatia, Vice-President (President-elect)Prof. James Goh Cho Hong, Singapore, Secretary-GeneralProf. Shankar M. Krishnan, USA, Treasurer

Prof. Makoto Kikuchi, Japan, Immediate Past – President

• Elected Members:– Prof. Said Jorge CALIL, Brazil– Prof. Ákos JOBBAGY, Hungary– Dr. Sun I. KIM, Korea– Prof. Jan WOJCICKIT, Poland – Prof. Marc NYSSEN, Belgium – Prof Olof LINDAHL, Sweden– Dr. Guru MADHAVAN, USA– Prof. Luis KUN, USA

April 22, 2023

Administrative Council 2009 - 2012• Officers:

Prof. Herbert F. Voigt, USA, PresidentProf. Ratko Magjarevic, Croatia, Vice-President (President-elect)Prof. James Goh Cho Hong, Singapore, Secretary-GeneralProf. Shankar M. Krishnan, USA, TreasurerProf. Makoto Kikuchi, Japan, Immediate Past – President

• Elected Members:• Prof. Said Jorge CALIL, Brazil• Prof. Ákos JOBBAGY, Hungary• Dr. Sun I. KIM, Korea• Prof. Jan WOJCICKIT, Poland • Prof. Marc NYSSEN, Belgium • Prof Olof LINDAHL, Sweden• Dr. Guru MADHAVAN, USA• Prof. Luis KUN, USA

5 of 13 (38%) of the IFMBE AC members are European! 1st EAMBES Fellow Symposium: "The European Potential in Engineering for Health“


April 22, 2023

IFMBE Regions Represented on the AC

23.1%

7.7%

38.5%

30.8%

Regions

Asian/Pacific

CORAL

European

North America



IFMBE Societies Committee

• Responsibilities of Society Members – Appoint a member of their executive committee, usually the

President (Preferably!) or Secretary, to be a member of the Committee of Societies, and to act as a liaison officer to the Federation;

– Disseminate to all their members any Federation calls for papers, calls for information, news releases, conference notices, or other materials for general circulation;

– Provide the Federation with information on their own meetings and activities to be published in the IFMBE NEWS and on the IFMBE Website.


The International Academy for Medical and Biological Engineering (IAMBE):

– The Academy is to conduct programs that will serve to encourage young people entering the field and assist their development in the early stages of their career.

– The Academy, upon request of the IFMBE Administrative Council, also shall serve as a resource for IFMBE and its various units.


Two IFMBE Specialized Divisions

1. Clinical Engineering Division 2. Health Care Technology Assessment Division

• established to address continuing and long term needs in these fields

• active in supporting the development of health care • education and training of medical and technical staff in

the health care facilities in African and other developing countries


VLADIMIR ZWORYKIN The IFMBE Founder-President

• Best known to the public through his invention of the cathode-ray tube, at that time called the kinescope, in 1929.

• In 1954, he was appointed director of the Medical Electronics Center at Rockefeller University


History• Later, as national societies were formed, these societies

became affiliates of the Federation.• Name changed to International Federation for Medical and

Biological Engineering (IFMBE) in the mid-sixties.• Close association with the International Organization of

Medical Physics (IOMP).• These two international bodies have established an

International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM).

April 22, 2023

Liaisons

ICSUInternational Council for Science

IUPESMInternational Union for

Physical and Engineering Sciencesin Medicine

30 Scientific Unions and 121 National Scientific Members

IFMBEInternational Federation for

Medical and Biological Engineering

IOMPInternational Organization

for Medical Physics


Asia/Pacific CORAL EAMBES AIMBE/

Canada

WHO

IFMBEIUPESM

IOMP

UNUNESCO UNIDO

National MBE societies

International MBE societies

Individual members

Individual members

Individual members

World Alliance for Patient Safety

E-health Initiative

Standardisation

ISO IEC

CENELEC

CEN

WHO


World Health Organisation IFMBE has major interests in:• patient safety issues• human resources program

– strengthen the position of clinical engineers and biomedical engineers whose workplace is within the healthcare system

• e-health programs• health technology assessment and management • evidence based medicineIFMBE is representing the WHO in international standardization

bodies

http://www.who.int/en/

April 22, 2023

WHO’s First Global Forum on Medical Devices; September 2010, Bangkok


Clinical Engineering and Patient Safety

• IFMBE Goals:– Mandatory clinical engineering certification and

registration under the umbrella of the IFMBE– Mandatory employment of certified and

registered clinical engineers in all hospitals– Find best practices that exist and share them

• e.g., Asia Pacific rim nations have been certifying clinical engineers for over a decade.


EDUCATION• BIOMEDEA• Biomedical Engineering Preparing for the European Higher

Education Area• Results:

Guidelines for:• harmonized higher MBES education and training• the accreditation of academic MBES programmes in Europe• the certification and registration of biomedical/clinical engineers in

Europe, and• continuing education (life-long learning) in MBES

Status report on MBES in Europe Student and teacher’s guide for all local and

international MBES programmes in Europe with special emphasis on mobility


Regional Activities• Asia-Pacific APCMBE Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia June 2011• Europe (European Alliance for Medical and Biological Engineering and

Science – EAMBES)• Nordic – Baltic Alborg, Denmark – June 2011• Mediterranean – MEDICON 2010 – May 2010 Greece• Latin America (CORAL) – V CLAIB May 2011• Africa• Developing Countries• Developing a close partnership with “Engineering World Health,” who

have established programs in Central America and Tanzania.


Regional Co-sponsored IFMBE Conferences

• Organized in a three-year cycle (almost!)• Regional members of the Societies Committee

decide on the venue• Host some of the official IFMBE meetings (Officer

Meetings, Societies Committee Meeting, etc.)• Guidelines for Conferences and Proceedings

provided by the Federation

April 22, 2023

Benefits for Affiliated BME Societies Members• BME research is a top priority:

– Publication of scientific publications & Free access to 4 Springer Journals, including MBEC

– Free access to IFMBE Proceedings & IFMBE NEWS – Organizing and sponsoring scientific events – Work in scientific working groups, committees & Divisions– Address Women in MBE issues globally– International Networking– Policy Papers can be published in new IUPESM Journal– Awarding distinguished researchers– Awarding Young Medical & Biological Engineers

• Young Investigators Competitions• Networking Fellowships for Assistant Professors

– Asia Pacific Rim Program going strong!– Need to establish programs for Europe, CORAL and North America!

(Maybe by 2015?)1st EAMBES Fellow Symposium: "The European Potential in Engineering for Health“



IFMBE Asia Pacific Working Group Networking Fellowship Program for MBE Assistant Professors

Traveling ScheduleRoute:Singapore (17th to 20th August)National University of SingaporeNanyang Technological UniversityHong Kong, China (20th to 22nd August)Chinese University of Hong Kong Hong Kong University of Science and TechnologyHong Kong Polytechnic UniversityTokyo, Japan (22nd to 24th August)AIST (National Institution in Tsukuba)University of TokyoJoint Graduation University of Tokyo Women's Medical College/ Waseda UniversityTainan, Taiwan (24th to 26th August)National Cheng Kung UniversitySeoul, Korea (26th to 1st September)Yonsei Unversity


World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering

September 13-18, 2009, Munich, Germanyhttp://www.wc2009.org/

http://www.wc2009.org/

April 22, 2023

WC 2012 – Beijing, China• Networking Fellowships for Assistant

Professors from:• Asia Pacific Rim – YES!• Coral (Central/South America)

– No• North America (Canada &

USA) – No• Europe – No

• New Special Sessions focused on under-graduates engaged in design/production of medical devices for use in resource-poor Nations. YES! Funding from 4 sources:

• IFMBE, BMES, IEEE – EMBS & EWH1st EAMBES Fellow Symposium: "The European Potential in Engineering for Health“



WC 2015 Toronto, Canada


Conclusions

• Yes, there are regional differences in medical and biological engineering issues regarding:– Recognition of the Medical and Biological Engineering

professionals– Education of Biomedical, Medical and Biological and Clinical

engineers– Regulation of medical devices and drugs (safety, efficacy,

clinical trials, etc.)– Availability of medical devices and health-care delivery

infrastructure– Ethical, gender and cultural issues


Conclusions

• These differences need to be appreciated and addressed at an international level

• We can learn from each other, but not if we do not talk to each other

• The diversity of our approaches and solutions, in fact, makes us stronger and more likely to have important continuing impact on health care delivery in both resource-poor and resource-rich nations.


48

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Thank you for your attention!

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regional biomedical engineering from a global perspective

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