EMBC 2011 Article in IEEE Spectrum

1. By Pamela Reynolds
T
he weather in Boston in March may be brisk but organizers of the 33rd Annual International
Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) are already plan-
ning ahead to warm-weather cocktail parties and networking fetes for EMBC 2011, running 30
August–3 September 2011 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel. The theme of this year’s
EMBC conference is “Integrating Technology and Medicine for a Healthier Tomorrow.” Ex-
pected to attract as many as 2,500 participants, the conference will examine the latest ad-
vances in biomedical engineering, health-care technologies, and medicine. The topics will include
biomedical signal processing, health-care information systems, telemedicine, medical device design,
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPUL.2011.940393
Date of publication: 28 April 2011
36 IEEE PULSE ▼ MARCH/APRIL 2011 2154-2287/11/$26.00©2011 IEEE © PHOTOCREDIT

2. A Fertile Incubator for
New Ideas and Innovation
cellular and tissue engineering, neural and rehabilitation ment of new technologies that may have the potential to dra-
engineering, and cardiovascular and respiratory systems matically impact the treatment of various health conditions
engineering, among other subjects. The five-day program and disorders. Andrew Laine, vice chair and professor of bio-
will include plenary lectures, symposia, workshops, in- medical engineering and radiology at Columbia University,
vited sessions, continuing education courses, and oral and is serving as program chair, and Metin Akay, founding chair
poster sessions. and professor of biomedical engineering at the University of
This year’s all-star roster of keynote speakers will include Houston, is serving as a program cochair. Atam Dhawan,
Dr. Subra Suresh, director of the National Science Founda- associate dean and distinguished professor of electrical and
tion; Dean Kamen, founder of Deka Research and Develop- computer engineering at New Jersey Institute of Technology,
ment Corporation responsible for the Deka Arm, the latest is the tutorial and workshops chair.
project sponsored by Defense Advanced Research Projects In different respects, Bonato says that this year’s conference
Agency (DARPA) to develop a new artificial upper limb; J. will break new ground. For one, continuing medical education
Craig Venter, founder, chair, and president of the J. Craig Ven- credits will be available to clinicians as part of a pilot experi-
ter Institute, who may be best known for his role in sequenc- ment. Panel discussions will be hosted to bring together aca-
ing the human genome; Roni Zeiger, chief health strategist demic researchers, clinicians, and R&D engineers, with a focus
at Google, Inc; David Balaban, vice president of research and on how technology could provide the means to address clinical
development informatics at Amgen; John Parrish, CEO of the challenges. Also new this year is that a portion of the conference
Center for Integration of Medicine and Innovative Technol- will utilize the innovative unconference format. Sessions on the
ogy (CIMIT); Angela Belcher, W.M. Keck professor of energy development and clinical application of wearable technology will
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Emilio use this new format, which encourages the conference partici-
Bizzi, institute professor at the Department of Brain and Cog- pants to define the meeting program. Conference participants
nitive Sciences, MIT; Kamil Ugurbil, McKnight presidential will propose topics of discussion through a conference blog and
endowed chair of radiology at the University of Minnesota; social media such as Twitter. While this format has been used
and Mara Aspinall, CEO of On-Q-ity, Inc. before in the meetings of computer scientists, this will be the first
“Boston is the perfect venue for such a conference,” says time that it’s been tried with a meeting of bioengineers.
Conference Chair Paolo Bonato, a biomedical engineer, who is In addition to the unconference format, continuing educa-
an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Medicine tion courses, and workshops and symposia for medical and en-
and Rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School. Bonato is also a gineering professionals, conference organizers have devised a
member of the affiliated faculty of the Harvard-MIT Division of number of activities to promote student interest in biomedical
Health Sciences and Technology as well as the director of Mo- engineering. These include a Student Paper Competition and
tion Analysis Laboratory at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in lunch-time sessions titled Lunch with Leaders (a series of lun-
Boston. “With so many universities and colleges located in the cheon sessions providing informal exchanges between students
greater Boston area, this city is a fertile incubator for new ideas and keynote speakers). Demand for these luncheons has been
and innovation in both medicine and biotechnology.” so strong at past conferences that organizers, this year, have
In fact, the greater Boston area is home to more than 60 uni- added an extra day of lunch meetings for a total of three days
versities and colleges. The city also boasts 14 teaching hospitals of luncheon sessions.
that remain at the forefront of medical practice and health-care On the lighter side, the conference promises a number of
delivery. Because of its academic strengths, a plethora of high- social and networking events, including a “Welcome Banquet”
tech and biomedical companies have settled in Boston, profit- for conference participants at Boston Marriott Copley Place and
ing from the continual and extensive exchange of ideas between a cocktail hour for students at Westin Copley Hotel. Boston’s
academia and private sector. historic neighborhoods, unique walkability, and special New
“We’ll take advantage of this singularly rich and stimu- England character promise to serve as a unique and evocative
lating setting by emphasizing these existing synergies,” says conference backdrop, providing conference goers with plenty of
Conference Cochair Colin Brenan, director of strategic rela- places and events to see and do in spare moments.
tionships for CIMIT and founder and former chair of the Bos- We look forward to seeing you there. For the latest informa-
ton Chapter of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology tion on EMBC 2011, visit http://embc2011.embs.org/.
Society. “You couldn’t ask for a better setting for exciting and
productive discussions.” Pamela Reynolds (preynolds@srh-mal.net) is a project coordina-
The ultimate goal of EMBC 2011, according to Bonato and tor at the Motion Analysis Laboratory, Spaulding Rehabilitation
Brenan, is to ignite exchanges that will lead to the develop- Hospital.
MARCH/APRIL 2011 ▼ IEEE PULSE 37