Abbreviation | IOMP |
---|---|
Formation | 1963 |
Headquarters | York |
Region | Global |
Official language | English |
President | John Damilakis |
Vice-President | Eva Bezak |
Past President | Madan Rehani |
Secretary-General | Magdalena Stoeva |
Website | www |
The International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) is a professional organization for medical physics with nearly 22,000 members in 84 countries. [1]
IOMP is charged with a mission to advance medical physics practice worldwide by disseminating scientific and technical information, fostering the educational and professional development of medical physics and promoting the highest quality medical services for patients.
IOMP was formed in January 1963 initially with 4 affiliated national member organizations (Canada, Sweden, UK, USA). [2] After 50 years of active existence and global support for the medical physics profession, IOMP has a membership of 80 national member organizations and 6 regional organizations. IOMP is affiliated to IUPESM, IUPAP and ICSU and is officially connected to IFMBE.
IOMP collaborates with professional bodies such as IRPA and ICRP and international organizations such as WHO and IAEA in promoting the development of medical physics and safe use of radiation and radiological equipment technology.
IOMP publishes an electronic Newsletter (Medical Physics World) and an open-source journal (Medical Physics International).
To raise awareness about the role medical physicists play for the benefit of patients, IOMP organizes the annual International Day of Medical Physics (IDMP) on November 7 - the birthday of Marie Sklodowska-Curie. [3]
The World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering (World Congress) is organised by IOMP (together with IFMBE and IUPESM) as well as the International Congress of Medical Physics (ICMP), held between World Congresses. [4]
Countries are represented by the respective National Organizations for Medical Physics.
Medical physics deals with the application of the concepts and methods of physics to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of human diseases with a specific goal of improving human health and well-being. Since 2008, medical physics has been included as a health profession according to International Standard Classification of Occupation of the International Labour Organization.
The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) is an independent organization that plays a role in promoting and furthering the application of information science in modern society, particularly in the fields of healthcare, bioscience and medicine. It was established in 1967 as a technical committee of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP). It became an independent organization in 1987 and was established under Swiss law in 1989.
A medical physicist is a health professional with specialist education and training in the concepts and techniques of applying physics in medicine and competent to practice independently in one or more of the subfields (specialties) of medical physics. A medical physicist plays a fundamental role in applying physics to medicine, but particularly in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. The scientific and technological progress in medical physics has led to a variety of skills that must be integrated into the role of a medical physicist in order for them to perform their job. The "medical services" provided to patients undergoing diagnostic and therapeutic treatments must, therefore, be the result of different but complementary skills. In general, the medical physicist is responsible for all scientific and technical aspects of imaging, radiation treatment, and radiation safety. It is their occupational role to ensure that medical modalities offered to patients are met with the utmost quality assurance. It is the medical physicist that manage and supervise the efforts of dosimetrists, therapists and technologists in that capacity.
The Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) is the United Kingdom's professional body and learned society for physicists, engineers and technologists within the field of medicine, founded in 1995, changing its name from the Institution of Physics and Engineering in Medicine and Biology (IPEMB) in 1997. The Institute is governed by an elected Board of Trustees reporting to which are the Science, Research and Innovation Council and the Professional and Standards Council. The councils have operational responsibility for scientific and professional aspects of the Institute's work, respectively. Beneath the councils is a substructure of committees, groups and panels of members, which undertake the work of the Institute.
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The Australasian College of Physical Scientists and Engineers in Medicine (ACPSEM) is a professional organisation for medical physicists, biomedical engineers and allied professionals in Australia and New Zealand. The ACPSEM was first incorporated in 1977 as the Australasian College of Physical Scientists in Medicine. The college was formed from the earlier Australian Regional Group of the Hospital Physicists Association (UK), Biophysics Group of the Australian Institute of Physics and New Zealand Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering Association. The college was admitted to membership of the International Organization for Medical Physics in 1986.
South East Asian Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics (SEAFOMP) was officially formed when it was accepted as a regional chapter of the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) at the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, held in Chicago, Illinois, in 2000.
The International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) was initially formed as International Federation for Medical Electronics and Biological Engineering during the 2nd International Conference of Medical and Biological Engineering, in the UNESCO Building, Paris, France in 1959. It is primarily a federation of national and transnational organizations. These organizations represent national interests in medical and biological engineering.
The International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM) is an international non-governmental organization - the umbrella organization for the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) and International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE).
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Xie George Xu was the Edward E. Hood Chair Professor of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Troy, New York, United States, before he relocated in 2020 to China and joined the faculty of the University of Science and Technology of China.
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Slavik Tabakov is a British-Bulgarian medical physicist, President of the International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) 2015-2018 and Vice-President of the International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM) 2018-2021. He has made significant contributions to the development and global dissemination of medical physics education and training and has pioneered e-learning in the profession.
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Ricardo Luis Armentano Feijoo is an Uruguayan professor and researcher who has worked in biomedical engineering and cardiovascular systems. He currently serves as the director of the GIBIO research group at the National Technological University — Buenos Aires Regional Faculty (Argentina). Also he is the director of the Department of Biological Engineering, University of the Republic (Uruguay). He has two doctoral degrees, two post-doctoral degrees, and has authored more than 300 research articles and 20 books/book chapters.
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