SMIT History
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. 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 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 22. Trondheim Norway 2010 Brynjulf Ystgaard / Toril Nagelhus Hernes 18. Wickham-Lecture: Surgical aid in areas of armed conflict 23. Tel Aviv Israel 2011 Amir Szold / Moshe Shoham 19. Wickham-Lecture: Integrating MRgFUS into clinical practise - The future is here 24. Barcelona Spain 2012 Enric Laporte/ Pablo Loza 20. Wickham-Lecture: Advances in Robotic Assisted Surgery 25. Baden-Baden Germany 2013 Uwe Spetzger/ Rüdiger Dillmann 26. Shanghai China 2014 Chengli Song / William Meng
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 Congress in the year 2000.
The Society has met annually at successful gatherings since 1989. Meetings took place in:
R. Satava, The Biointelligence Age: Medicine after the Information Age