Special Symposium: Engineering Applied to Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Sydney, Australia, August 24-29, 2003

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0331370JaronThis special symposium is a component of the 2003 World Congress of the International Union of Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine. Entitled "Engineering Applied to Alternative and Complementary Medicine: Health Care Solutions with Potential to Reduce Health Care Costs", the focus is on how biomedical engineering research can lead to a better understanding and quantification of benefits of alternative and complementary medicine therapies which are practiced and implemented at minimal cost throughout the world. From traditional oriental medicine to the use of local herbal remedies, alternative and complementary medicine therapies have the potential to be easily applied therapies that can play a significant role in reducing the cost of health care in developed countries and in the developing world. The symposium relates to the National Science Foundation/Whitaker Foundation initiative on Cost Reducing Health Care Technologies, initiated more than 10 years ago. There are 3 sessions in the symposium. One session focuses on "western" technologies (fMRI; millimeter wave pain relief; electric fields) and research methodologies that are being applied to investigate the effects of traditional medicine; a second on analysis and assessments of outcomes of alternative medicine; and the third on the integration of engineering and quantitative approaches to research in alternative and complementary therapeutics. Abstracts of symposium presentations will appear as part of the World Congress Proceedings. To take part in the special symposium, participants will commit to provide a full paper for publication. A commitment already has been received from the IEEE/EMBS Magazine to devote a special issue to the topic. Publication of the proceedings of the symposium in the IEEE/EMBS Magazine will increase the awareness and visibility of alternative techniques among the engineering community and new research methodologies -- using engineering principles -- would be developed to enable the initiation of innovative scientific approaches to research in alternative medicine and possibly understanding of new mechanisms for addressing disease.