Current Programs and Initiatives

AIMBE Emerging Leaders Program

The goal of AIMBE’s Emerging Leaders Program is to increase AIMBE’s engagement with exceptional mid-career professionals that are underrepresented in medical and biological engineering (MBE), recognize outstanding rising leaders in MBE, and serve as a pipeline for URM leaders to AIMBE’s College of Fellows. AIMBE is seeking candidates that have made an impact on the field and are within 3-5 years of application eligibility to the AIMBE College of Fellows. This is not an automatic passage into AIMBE Fellowship. However, following this program, AIMBE Emerging Leaders will be successfully prepared to apply for AIMBE Fellowship.

Each year, AIMBE will select ~20 emerging leaders who will be recognized during AIMBE’s Annual Meeting. Emerging leaders will have a unique opportunity to network and engage with AIMBE Fellows at the Annual Event and receive direct mentoring from current AIMBE Fellows. This is a 3-year program and Emerging Leaders would be paired with an AIMBE Fellow mentor. Click here for nomination and eligibility information.

AIMBE Public Policy Institute for Students and Trainees

Each year, AIMBE hosts its highly acclaimed Public Policy Institute for Rising Leaders for undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students interested in learning about the policy landscape surrounding medical and biological engineering. Top government officials at FDA and NIH, as well as leading experts on science policy provide a first-hand glimpse into the role of scientists in government and policy.

AIMBE provides travel awards for underrepresented minorities in biomedical engineering to attend the 2-day workshop in Washington, DC. More information is available here.

As part of continuing efforts to advance diversity, AIMBE has launched a new website to highlight the contributions of a diverse biomedical community. Women and underrepresented minorities have made tremendous breakthroughs and innovations that are critical to the field, often while overcoming many obstacles. AIMBE celebrates these trailblazers with this newest resource (diversity.aimbe.org) and provides a central touchpoint where individuals can find resources about diversity in the field, learn about the scientific advances of women and underrepresented minorities, and track both the progress and obstacles to success. View and share the website here.

Diversity and Inclusion Committee

Mission: The mission of this committee is to achieve greater diversity and inclusion within AIMBE. Increasing diversity includes representational diversity (more members who identify as women or non-cisgendered-male, non-White, non-heterosexual, or differently abled), interactional diversity (effective engagement with diverse perspectives and identities), and structural diversity (organizational embodiment of AIMBE’s commitment to diversity). This committee will also be responsible for identifying best practices and benchmarking compared to other societies and for developing programming for potential future Fellows of AIMBE.

Committee for the UnderRepresented and Marginalized (CURM)

Mission: As in other science and engineering fields, marginalized groups represent a small fraction of the medical and biological engineering (MBE) community. In 2009 AIMBE created CURM to recognize the contributions of underrepresented and marginalized groups (URM) in MBE and to advocate on their behalf for their advancement within the field. CURM seeks to educate people on issues affecting URMs and provide leadership training and greater opportunities to minorities in MBE and to current fellows in AIMBE.