Congress on Medical Physics and Engineering “Medical Physics-2001”

(Russia, Moscow State University, 18-22, June 2001)

I Euro-Asian V National Conference on Medical Physics and Engineering “Medical Physics-2001” was held successfully at the physical faculty of Moscow State University, June 18-22, 2001. The Conference was organized by the Association of Medical Physics in Russia (AMPR) and Moscow State University (MSU) with support of Ministry of Atomic Energy and other Russian organization, International Organization of Medical Physics (IOMP) and International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM).

The objectives of this Conference were to update the knowledge of medical physics and to exchange information concerning medical physics profession in Russia and in post-Soviet countries.

The president of the Congress was academician, the head of a Moscow University Victor Sadovnitchy; the vice-president of this Congress was Valery Kostylev, professor, president of AMPR. The opening of the Congress was beginning with welcoming speech of President of IOMP Oscar Chomicki. There were over 550 participants from not only in Russia, but also from CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) and abroad. Many foreign leading specialists from the U.S.A., United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Switzerland and so on were present at the Congress. Most of participants were medical physicists; radiation oncologists, technologists and creator of medical equipment and apparatuses were also attended.

A scientific program has covered all aspects of medical physics and clinical engineering applied to health care. About 500 reports (both oral and stand) were made at this Conference. The main section of the Conference:

§ Radiation therapy

§ Laser medicine

§ Medical biophysics

§ Mathematical, computer, information technologies in Medicine

§ Nuclear medicine

§ Radiation diagnostics and so on.

The following lectures were given:

§ “Modern methods of Brachytherapy in Gynecology” (this report was made by representative of ESTRO, Andries G. Visser, University Medial Centre Nijmegen, the Netherlands)

§ “The ESTRO Approach to Quality Assurance in Radiotherapy” (this report was presented by Chairman of ESTRO physics committee Alan L McKenzie, Bristol Oncology Centre, UK)

§ “Principles of MRI’ (Prof.P.Srrawls, Emory University, Atlanta, the U.S.A.) and so on.

The Seminar “The Problems and Education of Medical Physicists and Engineering” was held during the Conference with the financial support of IOMP. Many specialists from Oncology Institute and State University (where prepare medical physicists) from Russia, such as MEPHI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), MSU (Moscow State University), from CIS (Byelorussia, Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan) and from abroad were attended. The following reports were listened to:

§ Medical Physics education and training in Poland (Oskar Chomicki)

§ EMERALD training in medical radiation physics (F.Milano)

§ Technology enhanced teaching of Medical Physics (P.Sprawls)

§ Educational aspects in Medical Physics for the new century: an International view (Margaret Tzaphlidou)

§ Training for medical physicists in Russia

§ Problems of training and raising qualification of medical physicists, engineers and medical personnel (report from Kazakhstan)

§ The problems of education of medical physicists in Armenia

§ Training for medical physicists in the field of radiotherapy in Uzbekistan

§ Training for medical physicists in Ukraine and so on.

Representatives of different countries (CIS) discussed problems of forming specialty “Medical Physics”, education, scientific researches, technical and technological equipment and noted the following:

1. There are very many common features (scientific, cultural, educational and economic contacts and so on) between medical physicists of countries of given region.

2. Medical physicists of countries of given region have mainly common problems and difficulties (absence of status, of professional literature, of training system for staff, weak technical and technological equipment and so on).

As a result of this, representatives of National Organizations on Medical Physics decided the following:

1. To create Euro-Asian Federation of Organizations of Medical Physics (EAFOMP);
2. To organize the task group for conducting work on creation EAFOMP numbering: Eliso Gedevanishvili (Georgia), Valery Kostylev (Russia), Nina Lioutova (Russia), Valery Oryol (Ukraine), Suvsana Talybova (Uzbekistan), Igor Tarutin (Byelorussia);
3. To supplement this group with representatives from other countries of region along the way by mutual agreement;
4. To apply- to IOMP after establishment of EAFOMP with request about recognition EAFOMP as a regional department of IOMP;
5. Participation in EAFOMP is free will and assumes possibility of participation in other international Associations and Organizations.

During the Congress the Exhibition “Physics in Medicine” was held. There were both Russian and Foreign firms at the Exhibition. These were: “AZ” (Russia), “Electrochemical device” (Russia), “Mera” (Russia), “Atomtex” (Byelorussia), AMPR (Russia), IBA Scanditronix (Germany), Computerized Medical Systems (Switzerland), Varian (Switzerland), MDS Nordion (Canada), CPCE (Austria). The following devices were exhibited: planning systems (AMPR, Varian, MDS Nordion), dosimetric equipment (IBA Scanditronix, “Atomtex”, CPCE), Computerized Medical Systems (CMS), and so on.

We wish to express our thanks for support and help in organizing Congress IOMP and EFOMP, namely, the President of IOMP O.Chomicki, the Vice-President A.Niroomand-Rad, the General Secretary G.Fullerton, the Chair of IOMP Education and Training Committee S.Tabakov and the President of IUPESM J.P.Morucci.