Biomedical Engineering Redux: Emerging Career Opportunities And Their Implications For Educational Programs

I. Background. Biomedical engineering combines engineering expertise with the needs of the medical community for the enhancement of health care. (1) (2) Working cooperatively with scientists, chemists, and medical professionals, biomedical engineers design and develop devices associated with the biological systems of humans and animals. Their work spans a host of applications: computers used to analyze blood; laser systems used in corrective eye surgery; artificial organs; imaging systems (e.g., ultrasound); automating insulin injections or controlling body functions – to name a few. In addition to sound preparation in one of the basic engineering programs such as electrical, chemical or mechanical engineering, specialized training may be required in such areas as biomaterials, biomechanics, medical imaging, rehabilitation, or orthopedic engineering. (Such extensive educational requirements places a severe strain on traditional four-year engineering programs.) A ‘mission statement’ for Biomedical engineering can be extracted from these relevant applications and extended to include basic life sciences: The discipline of biomedical engineering seeks to advance knowledge in engineering, biology, and medicine to improve human health through interdisciplinary activities including: the acquisition of new knowledge and understanding of living systems; the development of new devices, algorithms, and systems that advance biology and medicine and improve medical practice and health care delivery. From the perspective of an electrical engineer, biomedical engineering as a discernible specialization can trace its origins to the early part of the 20 th century. (3) Physical scientists such as Herbert Gasser and Detlev Bronk enlisted the expertise of electrical engineers to develop instruments (e.g., a rudimentary cathode ray oscilloscope) that permitted them to work out the structure and functions of individual nerve fibers in the sciatic nerve of the frog, or to disclose the structure and function of the olfactory nerve. (Alan Hodgkin and Andrew Huxley used the voltage clamp technique to measure changes in permeability of the nerve cell membrane to sodium, potassium and chloride ions during a nerve impulse leading to the formulation of a mathematical model for the cellular dynamics of the nerve impulse.) Many of these individuals went on to win Nobel Prizes. Major advances in medical instrumentation occurred during World War II (as well as in subsequent wars) and as a consequence, a number of colleges and universities developed