American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering

Mission

AIMBE is the authoritative voice and advocate for the value of medical and biological engineering to society. It is an organization of leaders in medical and biological engineering, consisting of academic, industrial, professional society councils and elected fellows. AIMBE communicates objectively with, and responds to, U.S. and state government agencies, Congress, industry, academia, and professional societies by advocating and providing service to the public via medical and biological engineering. The organization is tasked with contributing to public policy-making to advance medical and biological engineering and benefit the general public. They work to ensure appropriate private and public investment to advance medical and biological engineering translational research and innovation. They inspire, educate, and involve young people who will be the future leaders of medical and biological engineering. Promotion of intersociety and multi-disciplinary cooperation within the medical and biological engineering community is an important aspect of their mission. Recognizing and honoring achievements and contributions to the field of medical and biological engineering is a hallmark of AIMBE.

Advocacy

Among AIMBE’s most important roles is the promotion of public policies that foster continued advancement in medical and biological engineering (MBE). AIMBE educates public officials, regulators, the media and general public about the positive impact MBE has on virtually every sector of society – from human health to a vibrant economy. AIMBE advocates for legislative and regulatory solutions that assistant our engineering community at each stage of the innovation ecosystem – from the research lab to the bedside of a patient. AIMBE facilitates annual Congressional staff tours of the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, providing legislative aids to Members of Congress with their first look inside medical research labs. These tours are part of AIMBE’s expanded advocacy efforts to inform key House and Senate staffers about the role of federal funding for medical device innovation, from the early stages of discovery funded by NIH, to regulatory approval by FDA. AIMBE hosts an annual Congressional Lunch Briefing Series to inform Congress and the public on important national and global issues regarding research and development in medical and biological engineering. In this role, AIMBE helps to bring important issues to the attention of Congress by shaping briefings and hearings for Members and their staff. AIMBE increases awareness and advocates for the benefit of federally-funded scientific research to society. Through this work, AIMBE highlights the following issues: The economic, societal, and security benefit derived from federal R&D investment; Technological innovations that have resulted from federal investment in R&D; The importance of a balanced R&D portfolio, with appropriate distribution of resources between the physical, engineering, and health sciences; and Yearly trends in R&D budget numbers. AIMBE also provides public policy training to graduate students and post-docs through the Annual Public Policy Institute for Rising Leaders which features prominent speakers in industry, government, and think-tanks.

Each year AIMBE Fellows from across the country travel to Washington, DC to meet with their Representatives and Senators to advocate for medical and biological engineering. Bringing with them medical devices and technologies, Fellows illustrate how federal investments in bioengineering research and development translates ideas from the lab bench to the bedside of patients. By visiting one-on-one, AIMBE Fellows make a powerful statement to their policy makers in Washington about how medical and biological engineers are fostering healthy lives, a health economy, and a healthy world.

College of Fellows

Since AIMBE’s inception, over 1,500 esteemed individuals have been inducted to AIMBE’s College of Fellows. AIMBE’s College consists of clinicians, industry professionals, academics and scientists, who have distinguished themselves through their contributions in research, industrial practice and/or education. These prominent scientists have helped improve the quality of life throughout the world by their dedication to revolutionize the engineering and medical fields. These fellows include heads of medical and engineering schools at many prestigious universities. Some fellows work for the government, acting as consultants, or directing clinical trials. Fellows are members of other prominent academic institutions, such as the National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences. Others have received the National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology.

Fellows use the post-nominal FAIMBE.^[3][4] Fellows are nominated each year by their peers and represent the top 2% of the medical and biological engineering community. They are considered the life-blood of AIMBE and work towards realizing AIMBE’s vision to provide medical and biological engineering innovation for the benefit of humanity. Fundamental to their achievements is the common goal of embracing innovation to improve the healthcare and safety of society.

Academic Council

AIMBE’s Academic Council is composed of leading educational programs in medical and biological engineering at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Department chairs generally serve as representatives to the Council, many of whom are elected members of the prestigious AIMBE College of Fellows. The Council’s member institutions play critical roles in educating the next generation of scientists, serving as innovation hubs to investigate new scientific frontiers, and enabling groundbreaking research to be translated into use in the marketplace. Medical and biological engineering educational programs are undergoing tremendous change as the fields grow and take on new shapes; as research funding becomes more difficult to secure; and as the student population, and their desired academic experiences, shifts. AIMBE’s Academic Council serves as a venue to come together and discuss these current issues and acts as a forum to raise the national visibility and advocate for the fields of medical and biological engineering.

Council of Societies

As AIMBE’s mechanism to coordinate and enhance interaction among 16 scientific organizations in medical and biological engineering, the Council of Societies:

• Provides a collaborative forum for the establishment of society member positions on issues affecting the field of medical and biological engineering;
• Fosters intersociety dialogue and cooperation, providing a cohesive public representation for medical and biological engineering, and;
• Provides a way to coordinate activities of member societies with the activities of academia, government, the health care sector, industry and the public and private biomedical communities.

The challenges facing medical and biological engineering grow more complex each year. The Council of Societies meets these challenges by assuring that resources from throughout the field – particularly the scientific and management talents of key individuals – are brought together most efficiently in pursuit of critical common goals. The Council, in fact, helps to set those goals by identifying and assessing important issues from within their own membership.^[5]

Industry Council

The Industry Council consists of the corporate leaders in the biomedical engineering field. This fosters collaboration between biomedical companies, and ensures that the general public is well served through new innovations and technology developed by the businesses.

Partnership with FDA

AIMBE maintains a strong partnership with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). AIMBE was one of the first organizations to partner with the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) at FDA to sign a Network of Experts Agreement. This allows AIMBE to provide the FDA with rapid access to the latest scientific, engineering, and medical expertise in order to keep the agency abreast of new and emerging fields of science and pioneering technologies. The agreement systematically broadens the FDA's scientific viewpoints by linking the agency with AIMBE Fellows tackling new scientific frontiers.

Additionally, AIMBE partners with the FDA for its Scholars Program, which enables distinguished post-doctorates in biomedical engineering fields to serve as expert advisors to policy makers at the FDA. Scholars learn how to apply their experiences from the lab bench to inform regulatory policy decisions. AIMBE Scholars work side-by-side with the most influential decision makers at the agency–from reviewers to FDA scientists to Center directors. They inform public policy through their knowledge of research and technological innovations. Scholars receive training about regulatory science and policy and build relationships with key government stakeholders. Scholars extend the capacity of the FDA and work toward streamlining regulatory processes at the agency through a variety of projects. They may be involved in standards development and the development of metrics to evaluate and inform agency programs and decision-making. Some biomedical engineers participating in the AIMBE Scholars Program return to their academic, government, or industry careers–with greater understanding of the connections between public policy and translational science–while others go on to build new careers in regulatory policy. The goals of the AIMBE Scholars Program are to: (1) Advance regulatory science at FDA in order to improve the quality and efficiency of regulations governing the medical device sector, and lower the cost of regulation; (2) Strengthen the connections between bioengineering and the scientific enterprise, industry, and the regulatory processes that governs the medical device sector; and (3) Train rising leaders in the field to learn first-hand about the regulatory processes that encompass the medical device total product life cycle.