International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering
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The International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) was initially formed as ''International Federation for Medical Electronics and Biological Engineering'' during the 2nd International Conference of Medical and Biological Engineering, in the
UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
Building, Paris, France in 1959. It is primarily a federation of national and transnational organizations. These organizations represent national interests in medical and
biological engineering Biological engineering or bioengineering is the application of principles of biology and the tools of engineering to create usable, tangible, economically-viable products. Biological engineering employs knowledge and expertise from a number o ...
. The objectives of the IFMBE are scientific, technological, literary, and educational. Within the field of medical, biological and clinical engineering IFMBE's aims are to encourage research and the application of knowledge, and to disseminate information and promote collaboration.


History of IFMBE

In 1959 a group of medical engineers, physicists and physicians met at the 2nd International Conference of Medical and Biological Engineering, in the UNESCO Building, Paris, France to create an organization entitled International Federation for Medical Electronics and Biological Engineering. At that time there were few national biomedical engineering societies and workers in the discipline joined as Associates of the Federation. Later, as national societies were formed, these societies became affiliates of the Federation. In the mid-1960s, the name was shortened to International Federation for Medical and Biological Engineering. Its international conferences were held first on a yearly basis, then on a two-year basis and eventually on a three-year basis, to conform to the practice of most other international scientific bodies. As the Federation grew, its constituency and objectives changed. During the first ten years of its existence, clinical engineering became a viable subdiscipline with an increasing number of members employed in the health care area. The IFMBE mandate was expanded to represent those engaged in
research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...
and in
clinical engineering Clinical engineering is a specialty within biomedical engineering responsible for using medical technology to optimize healthcare delivery. Clinical engineers train and supervise biomedical equipment technicians (BMETs), working with governm ...
. The latter category now represents close to half of the total membership. As of October 2010, IFMBE has an estimated 130,000 members in 61 affiliated organizations. It is also associated with the
International Organization for Medical Physics The International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) is a professional organization for medical physics with nearly 22,000 members in 84 countries. Objectives and History IOMP is charged with a mission to advance medical physics practice wo ...
(IOMP) since 1976, and together the two bodies established the
International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine The International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM) is an international non-governmental organization - the umbrella organization for the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) and International Fede ...
(IUPESM).


Publications

*
Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing ''Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal and an official publication of the International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering. It is published by Springer Science+Business Media. It c ...
(ISSN 0140-0118) The IFMBE publishes the journal Medical and Biological Engineering and Computing with Springer, aims to cover all fields of Medical and Biological Engineering and Sciences. *IFMBE News The IFMBE News Magazine, published electronically with Springer, documents developments in biomedical engineering. *IFMBE Book Series The official IFMBE book series, Biomedical Engineering represents another service to the Biomedical Engineering Community. *IFMBE Proceedings In co-operation with its World Congress and regional conferences, IFMBE also issues the IFMBE Proceedings Series published with Springer.


World Congress

The major International Conference of the Federation is now titled the World Congress. Meetings of the Federation are combined with those of the Organization for medical Physics (IOMP) and co-ordinated by the Conference Co-ordinating Committee of the International Union for Physics and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM). The Congresses are scheduled on a three-year basis and aligned with Federation's General Assembly meeting at which elections are held.


Membership

Members of IFMBE include: *
American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) is a non-profit organization founded in 1991, and headquartered in Washington. It represents 50,000 medical and biomedical engineers, and academic institutions, private industry, ...
*
Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) is an organization for advancing the development, and safe and effective use of medical technology founded in 1965 by Robert D. Hall Jr. and Robert J. Allen, President and Vic ...
*
Canadian Medical and Biological Engineering Society The Canadian Medical and Biological Engineering Society (CMBES) is a technical society representing the biomedical engineering community in Canada. CMBES is supported by its membership which consists of biomedical engineers, biomedical engineer ...
*
Hong Kong Institution of Engineers The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE, ) is a professional body of engineers in Hong Kong. It was founded in 1947 as the ''Engineering Society of Hong Kong'' and was incorporated by the Legislative Council of Hong Kong as ''The Hong Kong ...
* IEEE Engineering in Medicine & Biology Society *
Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine The Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) is the United Kingdom's professional body and learned society for physicists, engineers and technologists within the field of medicine, founded in 1995, changing its name from the Insti ...
*
John von Neumann Computer Society The John von Neumann Computer Society ( hu, Neumann János Számítógép-tudományi Társaság) is the central association for Hungarian researchers of Information communication technology and official partner of the International Federation for ...


References

{{authority control Medical physics organizations Biomedical engineering