The 25th Anniversary Meeting of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), organized by Dr. Christine Schmidt, UF BME Pruitt Family Professor and Chair, in collaboration with Dr. Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic at Columbia University, was held in Washington, D.C. April 3-4, 2016. AIMBE is an honorific society, in which fellows are nominated each year by their peers and represent the top 2% of the medical and biological engineering community. AIMBE Fellows lay a foundation to advocate for public policy issues related to improving lives through medical and biological engineering.

The annual meeting represents AIMBE’s premier gathering of the leaders in medical and biological engineering. This special anniversary meeting was focused on the future of innovation as well as looking back on 25 years of achievement. A record number of AIMBE Fellows attended the event and participated in the induction ceremony of new Fellows at the National Academy of Science. Many leaders in the field and past leadership of AIMBE were in attendance and highlighted in a special networking reception the night before the start of the meeting.

Featured keynote speakers during the meeting included:

•    Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Stanley C. Moore Professor of Bioengineering, Rice University
•    Dr. Sangeeta Bhatia, John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology, Institute for Medical Engineering & Science, MIT
•    Dr. Leroy E. Hood, President and Co-founder, Institute for Systems Biology
•    Dr. George Savage, Co-Founder and CMO, Proteus Digital Health
•    Dr. France A. Córdova, Director, National Science Foundation (NSF)
•    Dr. Christopher Austin, Director, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)

The meeting also included updates on current legislative issues facing Congress that impact the field of medical and biological engineering as well as trends in scientific publishing. Furthermore, the meeting featured a distinguished leadership panel composed of past presidents and Galletti Award winners.

AIMBE:

•    Dr. Robert Nerem, Parker H. Petit Distinguished Chair for Engineering in Medicine, Institute Professor Emeritus, Georgia Institute of Technology
•    Dr. Cato Laurencin, University Professor, Albert & Wilda Van Dusen Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Connecticut
     Health Center
•    Dr. Nicholas Peppas, Professor & Director of the Institute for Biomaterials, Drug Delivery and Regenerative Medicine, the University of Texas at Austin  
•    Dr. Kenneth Lutchen, Dean, College of Engineering; Professor, Biomedical Engineering, Boston University

 Congratulations, Dr. Schmidt!