History of the Society for
Medical Innovation and Technology (SMIT)
The Society for
Medical Innovation and Technology is an
international society, formed in 1989 under
the name "Society for Minimally Invasive
Therapy" by an innovative group of medical
practitioners led by John Wickham.
The founding members were leaders in their
fields and were dedicated to the
multidisciplinary advancement of minimally
invasive therapy in an attempt to reduce
patient trauma arising from surgical
operations or radiological interventions.
The current membership base includes
representatives from most medical
specialities, instrument manufacturing,
biomedical engineering and research.
As to reflect this broader membership as
well to attract further members not
necessarily only within minimally invasive
therapy, the name of the Society was
formally changed to "Society for Medical
Innovation and Technology" during the 12th
Conress in the year 2000.
The Society has met annually at successful
gatherings since 1989. Meetings took place in:
Location
Country
Year
President / Co President
1.
London
UK
1989
John Wickham / John Fitzpatrick
(Foundation of the Society)
2.
Vienna
Austria
1990
Michael Marberger
3.
Boston
USA
1991
Bruce McLucas
4.
Dublin
Ireland
1992
John Fitzpatrick / Noel Williams
5.
Orlando
USA
1993
Peter Mueller
1.
Wickham-lecture: R. Satava, The
visionary's approach to surgery
in the 21st century
6.
Berlin
Germany
1994
Gerhard Buess
2.
Wickham-lecture: T. Leber, "The
Louvre" 3D video presentation
7.
Portland
USA
1995
Josef Rösch
3.
Wickham-lecture: G. Buess,
Development of future systems
for endoscopic surgery
8.
Milan (Ancona)
Italy
1996
Pisani / John Wickham
4.
Wickham-lecture: J. Rizzo,
Development of electronic eye
for blindness
9.
Kyoto
Japan
1997
Yoshida / John Wickham
5.
Wickham-lecture: S. Tachi,
Tele-existence and Virtual
Reality
10.
London
UK
1998
John Wickham / Gerhard Buess
6.
Wickham-lecture: A. Adam,
Interventional Radiology in
patients with cancer
11.
Boston
USA
1999
Stephen Dawson
7.
Wickham-lecture: J. Burke,
Innovation serendipity and
healing
12.
Gelsenkrichen
Germany
2000
Andreas Melzer / Rainer Seibel
8.
Wickham-lecture: D. Birkett,
Impact of innovative medical
technologies on MIT
R. Satava, The Biointelligence
Age: Medicine after the
Information Age
13.
Berlin
Germany
2001
Marc O. Schurr / Harald Fischer
9.
Wickham-lecture: E. Owen,
Microsurgery and beyond -
miniaturisation in progress
14.
Oslo
Norway
2002
Erik Fosse / Toril
Nagelhues-Hernes
10.
Wickham-lecture: R. Wolf,
Cardiac Surgery in the past
present and future
15.
Amsterdam
Netherlands
2003
Kees Grimbergen / Willem
Bemelman
11.
Wickham-lecture: N. Bom
(Engineer), Early, present and
future applications of
Echocardiography
16.
Rome
Italy
2004
Marco M.Lirici / Cristiano
Hüscher
12.
Wickham-lecture: Jacques
Marescaux, The future of
robotics: The reality beyond
fiction
17.
Naples
Italy
2005
Nicola Di Lorenzo / Antonio
Tornambè
13.
Wickham-lecture: Achille L.
Gaspari, Has technology always
been here?
18.
Monterey
USA
2006
Rick Satava / Andreas Melzer
14.
Wickham-lecture: Dieter Stöckel,
Nitinol in Medicine
19.
Kyoto
Japan
2007
Eiji Kanehira / Yoshimoshi
Kurokawa
15.
Wickham-lecture: Akiko Uchida,
Evolution of the human mind -
beyond bones and stones
20.
Vienna
Austria
2008
Joachim Kettenbach / Gernot
Kronreif
16.
Wickham-Lecture: M. Flugelman,
Engineering blood vessels by
gene and cell therapy
21.
Sinaia
Romania
2009
Calin Tiu / Dan Stoianovici
17. Wickham-Lecture: Sir Alfred
Cuschieri, Progress in
Nanotechnologies for healthcare
