6 July 2001 Dr. Ruth Kirschstein Dear Dr. Kirschstein: On behalf of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-United States of America (IEEE-USA) and our Medical Technology Policy Committee (MTPC), I wish to offer our support to you for the establishment of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). The new Institute is an important demonstration and recognition of the contribution and importance of biomedical engineering and imaging to healthcare and the nation. This letter is sent to you to express our organization's readiness to work with the NIH in their development of the new Institute, to assist you where appropriate in identifying agenda items, and to offer our help to you with your open search for a director of the NIBIB. In addition, we are willing to actively assist you, where and as appropriate, in ongoing contact with members of Congress in supporting the Institute and its important contributions to healthcare and medical science. We are aware that the formation of this Institute was made possible by a series of developments at the NIH including the efforts of the prior Office of Bioengineering Consortium, the Office of Bioengineering, Bioimaging and Bioinformatics, the coordinated activities of the biomedical imaging and bioengineering community (especially the Academy of Radiology Research and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering), and support from the Congress. We believe that the future success of this new Institute will require the close cooperation of the scientific and engineering communities with the NIH. As you know, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. (IEEE) is one of the largest organizations within the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE). Its membership in the world is just over 360,000 members in 150 countries including almost 230,000 members here in the U.S. The IEEE-USA, a policy oriented arm of the IEEE, and especially its MTPC, was established to support the creation of position papers and public policy guidance documents based on sound engineering and scientific principles supported by our membership. In recognition of the importance that our MTPC organization has seen in the bioengineering, bioinformatics, and genomics fields, they have recently established two new working groups (Bioinformatics and Genomics Working Group and the Bioterrorism Working Group) to evaluate and offer a more focused effort to meet the needs of this community of interest. IEEE-USA would like to actively support the new Institute and offer our position that the transfer of resources from existing NIH institutes to the new Institute should be done as expeditiously as possible, yet with proper prudence, so as not to reduce the supporting activities related to bioengineering, bioimaging and bioinformatics going forward within NIH's other existing institutes. We understand that the new Institute will foster activities that cut across institutional boundaries, including fundamental and applied research and training in these fields. This approach, which is consistent with the NIH leadership, is supported by our organization. We understand that Dr. Dean will head the transition of the recently initiated Office of Bioengineering, Bioimaging, and Bioinformatics into the new NIBIB. We assume that the NIH will first form an internal task force to draft the mission statement and later an external advisory group to obtain inputs from the extramural scientific community that could positively assist in the transition effort. For the success of this new Institute in the public interest, we would like to offer our help and expertise as you see fit. Although the initial budget for NIBIB will be built on the funded grants transferred from other institutes and funds for new initiatives, both of which are in the process of being determined, it is our hope that NIBIB will receive independent funding. We would like to work synergistically with the NIH and with the Congress when appropriate to show our support for a successful Institute operation. The IEEE-USA believes that we must seize the opportunity and meet the challenge to bring biomedical engineering to a new level as we enter this new century. With appropriate planning and collaboration between the NIH, the scientific community, and our technical policy committee, the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering will undoubtedly play a leading role in fostering biomedical imaging and bioengineering, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the health and well being of our people and the prevention of disease and in serving us in the public interest. Thank you for the opportunity to provide these comments on this important new Institute. If you have any questions or would like further information concerning our offer of support, please contact Deborah Rudolph, our IEEE-USA Manager of Technology Policy Activities here in Washington, D.C. at (202) 785-0017 x 8332. More information on the functions of the IEEE-USA can be found online at www.ieeeusa.org. Sincerely yours, Ned R. Sauthoff, Ph.D. | Top of Page | Policy Log | Public Policy Forum | IEEE-USA | Last Update: 11
June 2001 Copyright © 2001, The
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