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Celebrating 35 Years of Biomedical Engineering: an Historical Perspective Celebrating 35 years of Biomedical Engineering: An Historical Perspective u u Biomedical Engineering Society 840l Corporate Drive, Suite 225 • Landover, MD 20785-2224 301-459-1999 • Fax: 301-459-2444 Web: www.bmes.org The Full Service Professional Society for Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering The Biomedical Engineering Society: An Historical Perspective Editor Paul H. Fagette, Jr., Ph.D. Managing Editor Patricia I. Horner Biomedical Engineering Society 840l Corporate Drive, Suite 225 • Landover, MD 20785-2224 301-459-1999 • Fax: 301-459-2444 Web: www.bmes.org The Full Service Professional Society for Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Biomedical Engineering – A Personal View Peter G. Katona, ScD President, The Whitaker Foundation BMES Past President I received Pat Horner’s phone call with mixed emo- by 2003. Most of these programs are now being tions. On one hand, it was a great honor to be invited offered by departments, rather than by loosely knit to write the forword for this special historical publica- groups of faculty members. Attendance at BMES tion. On the other hand, how to say anything novel and meetings is setting records almost every year, and profound about biomedical engineering when so many BMES has become the lead society for accrediting of the readers of this publication have spent their lives biomedical engineering programs. The establishment shaping the field? I doubt that any of you who know of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Pat could ever say “no” to her, so I decided to write Engineering (AIMBE) as an umbrella organization rather than run. and joint meetings of the BMES and the Institute of Not trying to go further back than I can remember, Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) I see the first phase of biomedical engineering as being Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society in the sixties and early seventies. That was a period of (EMBS) promise increased cooperation among bio- hope and aspirations, accompanied by considerable medical engineers of differing backgrounds. The growth. Computers were being applied to automate recent establishment of the National Institute for clinical laboratories, and predictions were made that Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) is new measurement techniques and computer-based another cause for optimism not only because of poten- records would revolutionize the delivery of medical tial new funding mechanisms, but because the new care. Mathematical models were to increase our under- Institute signifies recognition of our field. standing of physiology, and advances in materials were What is the reason for this resurgence? I believe to help restore diminished or lost function. that the spectacular advance in the biological sciences The optimism gave rise to and was buoyed by is the primary one. The increased understanding of the institutionalizing the field. Training grants from the molecular and genetic bases of cellular function and National Institutes of Health (NIH), individual cellular interactions raises the promise of personaliz- research grants from the National Science Foundation ing, and thus greatly improving, diagnosis and thera- (NSF), and the establishment of the Biomedical py. Nothing less than changing the practice of Engineering Society (BMES) are examples of the fer- medicine is on the horizon. Of course, such promises ment. Biomedical engineering programs and depart- have been made before, so the challenge is to make ments were started at many universities; the number of this happen sooner rather than later. U.S. programs granting undergraduate or graduate And this is where biomedical engineers come in. degrees was about 40 in 1975. An increasing number of biomedical engineering In the second phase, the late seventies and the departments are establishing molecular and cellular eighties, it was realized that the promises had been too orientations that were absent just a few years ago. bold. Linear models, even nonlinear ones, did not Mathematical modeling, a tool of engineers, is being often reveal mechanisms, and introducing computer- increasingly used to integrate molecular, cellular, and based records into medical care proved challenging. systems level understanding of life processes. Such The medical industry was not yet seeking biomedical understanding will open new technologies to solve engineers. There was time consuming debate whether problems not only in the life sciences and medicine, bioengineering or biomedical engineering was the but it may also suggest solutions to engineering prob- appropriate term, and cooperation between proliferat- lems that are outside these areas. ing professional societies was minimal. The number of The second major reason for the resurgence of degree-granting biomedical engineering programs biomedical engineering is the growing interest of stu- rose only to about 50 by 1990. dents in the field. It is reassuring that a combination The nineties mark the beginning of a third and of engineering and biology is attractive to students, happy phase of biomedical engineering. The number but it is especially noteworthy that biomedical engi- of degree-granting biomedical engineering programs, neering students are reported to be among the very especially at the undergraduate level, has increased best at almost all universities. This is fortunate since dramatically in the past few years, reaching over 100 biomedical engineers need to integrate in-depth i knowledge in both biology and engineering, which is underlying merit and the talented individuals it attracts, a challenging task. however, the field could not have prospered. It has also helped that the rapidly growing med- We are often asked if biomedical engineering will ical industry has started to recognize that biomedical continue to thrive after the Foundation closes in 2006. engineers can accelerate the development and dissem- I am convinced that it will. The in-depth integration of ination of diagnostic and therapeutic devices. While the life sciences and engineering is a prerequisite to the biomedical industry is not exempt from economic advances in basic biology, as well as to the practice in fluctuations, jobs in the industry have opened up modern medicine. Industry seeks individuals with where none existed before. breadth and depth. Our profession is increasingly in The Whitaker Foundation is often mentioned as one the hands of talented, energetic, and enthusiastic indi- of the reasons for the current boom in biomedical engi- viduals who are well positioned to train the next gen- neering. I am convinced that the Foundation, through eration of leaders. funding both individuals and the establishment of pro- The best phase of biomedical engineering is just grams, has indeed accelerated the process. Without its beginning. ii The Biomedical Engineering Society: A New Science - A New Tradition Paul Fagette, PhD BMES Historian Introduction that the usual path toward specialization occurs with- As we enter the new millennium, the Biomedical in a single society. Disciplinary fragmentation has Engineering Society (BMES) celebrates this age as occurred across all scientific and social scientific the premier professional engineering society of a areas. The common result is new societies and jour- modern interdisciplinary area of study. The Society’s nals. For example, both bio-chemistry and physical Annual Meetings now regularly attract more than chemistry followed this path.4,9,12 Biomedical engi- 1,000 attendees, a number far t neering did not take this route; instead, a cooperative, oo large for the meetings to be held on university cam- interdisciplinary society was created that cut across puses. Undergraduate and graduate programs are established academic and societal boundaries. Thus, spread around the United States with increasing num- BMES is atypical and presents new questions and bers of students drawn from around the globe. New challenges in order to understand its formation and its positions proliferate in universities and industry. The thirty-five years of life. Society’s journal, the Annals of Biomedical This special historical publication is devoted to Engineering, has also become the preeminent source presenting an insider’s perspective to these questions of biomedical engineering science. Even the US and to celebrate the Society’s achievements at the mil- Congress has recognized the importance of this area lennium. The historic medium elected is the reflec- of study by passing legislation to create a new tions of BMES presidents. Through their eyes, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) institute: the struggle to found, maintain, and mature is told. Details National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and drawn from Board Minutes and Business Meetings Bioengineering (NIBIB). All these are signal achieve- accompany each presidential entry to flesh out the ments for a professional group barely three decades story. Pat Horner, current Executive Director, has also old. supplied photographs and other early documents that The general historic setting for biomedical engi- further chronicle societal history. Pat also presents a neering was marked by significant federal aid to bio- picture of the Society from the perspective of the medical research beginning in the early 1950s and Executive Director. Kay Lyou, the first Executive which increased virtually each year. Vitally, public Director of the Society, recalls the early years. Jim support and interest grew in proportion to dissemina- Bassingthwaighte, who has a
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