The History of the Annual International Biomaterials Symposium& Annual Meeting of the Society for Biomaterials

The History of the Annual International Biomaterials Symposium& Annual Meeting of the Society for Biomaterials
The first in a series of symposia which became the Annual International Biomaterials Symposium was held at Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, USA, on January 31 and February 1, 1969. The title was "Use of Ceramics in Surgical Implants". There were 100 participants and a total of 17 papers were presented.
The first Symposium set the tone for the future Symposia in that it was one of the most interdisciplinary meetings ever held in the field of biomaterials. The meeting was characterized by an in-depth interchange between the clinician and the engineer. It was very interesting to note how rapidly the engineer picked up the jargon of the orthopaedic surgeon; by the end of the two days, the orthopaedic surgeons were talking about elastic modulus as if they were old friends. The most important event that occurred at the First Symposium was that at the conclusion of the meeting, Dr. C. William Hall shared his vision for the formation of a society for the exchange of information about biomaterials with Sam Hulbert. That meeting was the first significant step in establishing the Society For Biomaterials.
The Second Annual International Biomaterials Symposium, entitled "Materials for Implant Dentistry", was held at Clemson University on April 16 and 17, 1970. There were 112 participants and 16 technical presentations. One of the basic philosophies of the Symposia has been to allow a forum for the discussion of controversial ideas and concepts.
The Third Annual Biomaterials Symposium entitled "A Symposium Workshop on research Techniques in Biomaterials Evaluation" was held at Clemson University on March 29 – April 1, 1971. Although The Third Biomaterials Symposium was the smallest in number of participants, it probably marked the beginning of the establishment of a fraternity of scholars dedicated to improving the quality of life through improved materials of construction for artificial body parts.
The Fourth Annual Meeting was entitled "Materials and Design Considerations for the Attachment of Prostheses to the Musculo-Skeletal System" was held on April 3-7, 1972, at Clemson University. There were 204 participants with 8 participants from foreign countries and 45 papers were presented. Twenty-six of the papers were published in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research. The meeting was particularly noteworthy in that it marked the transition from an American meeting to an international meeting.
The Fifth Annual Biomaterials Symposium entitled "Prosthesis and Tissue – The Interface Problem" was held at Clemson University on April 14-16, 1973. The meeting format was changed from a Monday-Friday format to a Saturday-Tuesday format and continued to grow in that there were 87 papers presented, 61 of which were published as two special issues of the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research. The First Annual Clemson Awards for Outstanding Contributions to Biomaterials research were presented.
The Sixth Annual International Biomaterials Symposium entitled "Materials for Reconstructive Surgery" was held at Clemson University on April 20-24, 1974. There were 366 participants from 29 states and 15 countries. A total of 101 papers were presented and the results were published in the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research. A special meeting was held to announce plans to form the Society For Biomaterials. The Annual International Biomaterials Symposium literally resulted in the birth of a society dedicated to the exchange of information between researchers in the field of biomaterials.
The Seventh International Biomaterials Symposium was held at Clemson University on April 26-30, 1975. This was also the first Annual Meeting of the Society For Biomaterials. There were 382 participants from 30 states and 15 countries. There were 61 participants from outside the United States. By the Seventh International Symposium , the meeting was clearly established as the place to present research findings in the field of biomaterials.
Outside of Clemson University, the organization that played the largest role in the early history of the Symposia was the National Institute of Dental Research.
The NIDR served as a sponsor for most of the Symposia up through the Second World Congress on Biomaterials.
The sponsorship by the NIDR made it possible for the organizers of the Symposium to invite the world’s leading authorities on biomaterials to speak at the Symposium.
By the Seventh International Symposium, the meeting had grown so large that it was beginning to be very difficult to find appropriate housing at Clemson University. After much discussion, it was decided that the Annual meeting of the Society For Biomaterials and the International Biomaterials Symposium should be rotated from place to place.
The Eighth International Biomaterials Symposium and the Second Annual Meeting of the Society For Biomaterials was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on April 9-13, 1976. The large number of requests to present papers at the Symposium required that the format of the meeting be changed. The mornings were devoted to Plenary sessions and during the afternoon concurrent sessions were held for the first time.
The Third Annual Meeting and the Ninth International Symposium was held in New Orleans. This meeting saw the publishing, for the first time, of the Annual Meeting Transactions.
The Fourth Annual Meeting and the Tenth International Symposium was held in San Antonio. A number of traditions of the first Symposium are still maintained, including the Bash and Banquet.
For the Fifth Annual Meeting, the Society returned to its birthplace, Clemson University.
The Founders of the Society For Biomaterials had envisioned that it would be The International Society For Biomaterials. However, it was not to be and the Canadians, Europeans and Japanese organized their own societies. The First World Congress organized by the four constituent societies was held April 8-12, 1980, at Baden, near Vienna, Austria, in conjunction with the Sixth Annual Meeting of the Society and the Twelfth International Symposium. The tradition of the Clemson Awards, Bash and Banquet are continued.
The 1981 Annual Meeting was held at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. The seventh Annual Meeting was the beginning of the student awards.
The Eighth Annual Meeting and the Fourteenth International Biomaterials Symposium were held at Disney World. The Founders Award was presented for the first time. The Founders Award was established to honor those members of the society who had given so much of themselves in establishing, developing, maintaining and promoting the Society For Biomaterials. The first Founders Award was given in memory of George Winters and John Leray, whose efforts on behalf of the Organization of World Societies for Biomaterials inspired the award.
The Ninth Annual Meeting of the Society For Biomaterials was held in Birmingham, Alabama. The Sixteenth International Biomaterials Symposium was held at Charleston, South Carolina on May 20-23, 1990. The Seventeenth International Biomaterials Symposium was held at Scottsdale, Arizona from May 1-5, 1991.
The Nineteenth International biomaterials Symposium was held in Birmingham, Alabama from April 28 to May 2, 1993. The twentieth and twenty-first International Biomaterials Symposium were held in Boston, Massachusetts from April 5-9, 1994 and San Francisco, California from March 18-22, 1995 respectively. An outstanding workshop program featuring internationally recognized speakers had been organized for the 1994 biomaterials workshop.
The Twenty-second International Biomaterials Symposium was held in Toronto, Canada from May 29 to June 2, 1996.
The Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth were held in New Orleans, Louisiana from April 30 to May 4, 1997 and in San Diego, California from April 22-26, 1998. The Twenty-fifth Symposium was held in Providence, Rhode Island from April 28 – May 2nd 1999. The Twenty-sixth International Biomaterials Symposium will be held in Kamuela, Hawaii from May 15- 20, 2000.
The Annual International Biomaterials Symposium which led to the formation of the Society For Biomaterials has contributed enormously to the development of new and improved biomaterials.
http://www.ces.clemson.edu/bio/research/curole.htm