IME membership has grown to 46 faculty, of which 13 are new recruitments to Penn. Additional recruitments are in progress during this exciting phase of development. As new recruits establish their research labs and membership in the IME by existing Penn faculty increases, two objectives of the Institute are paramount. First, critical masses of expertise are reached in interdisciplinary areas of importance to IME interests that provide opportunities for research funding. Second, regular interaction between clinicians and basic scientists stimulates opportunities for translational medicine - the integration of research bench knowledge into clinical medicine.
Several initiatives are underway.
A reorganization of Bioengineering undergraduate and graduate education with greater emphasis on clinical exposure during training is a key element of the initiative. An NIH Program Project Grant in cardiovascular bioengineering and an NIH Training Grant for interdisciplinary training in bioengineering are also in development for submission in early 1999. The IME seminar series is now established as the flagship series in biomedical engineering, broadly defined. Penn scientists with diverse interests regularly attend lectures presented by leading international, national, and Penn investigators. The excellence of the program was recognized by funding through the Interdisciplinary Seminar Fund from the Vice Provost for Research.