Undergraduate biomedical imaging education

• Published in: Annals of biomedical engineering 2006-02, Vol.34 (2), p.232-238
• Main Authors: Paschal, Cynthia B, Nightingale, Kathy R, Ropella, Kristina M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Benchmarking; Biomedical Engineering - education; Biomedical Engineering - standards; Curriculum; Diagnostic Imaging; Education, Professional; Equipment and Supplies; Knowledge Bases; Professional Competence; Teaching; United States; Universities
• ISSN: 0090-6964; 1573-9686
• DOI: 10.1007/s10439-005-9031-2

Biomedical engineers, with their training in the life sciences as well as engineering, mathematics and physical sciences, are uniquely poised to both support and advance biomedical imaging technologies, which noninvasively capture the structure and function of living organisms. Biomedical imaging, born of Roentgen's 1895 discovery of X-rays, now incorporates a wide variety of modalities that produce images reflecting the distribution and interaction of energy with the body's tissues. Such images are acquired and used in many different ways including traditional medical imaging for diagnosis, therapy planning and assessment. Biomedical engineers also acquire and use images in the forms of standard videos to study gait analysis, endoscopic videos to guide therapeutic interventions, and still camera optical images to quantify biometrics and to read DNA microarrays. Strong undergraduate imaging curricula are critical to developing the essential human infrastructure needed to support biomedical imaging. This is especially true given the rapidly growing demand for engineers trained in the field of biomedical imaging.