Bridging the future: from research to new clinical practices
On behalf of the European Federation of Medical Physics (EFOMP), it is my great pleasure to welcome all European Medical Physicists, colleagues, and friends to the 5th European Congress of Medical Physics (ECMP2024) hosted in Munich, Germany.
Medical Physics is a domain in constant evolution, all the more so in this day and age in which we are witnessing the start of a new era. Many important discoveries and developments are happening which will radically change our clinical practice in the next few years. Translational research into novel radiobiology concepts, artificial intelligence, new medical imaging techniques, and others are the main drivers of these strong winds of change. Bringing new technologies and treatment schemes to standard clinical practice has always been one of the roles of the medical physicist. Correspondingly, the theme of this congress: “Bridging the future: from research to new clinical practices”, was informed by this idea.
My hope is that ECMP2024 will serve as a forum to foster discussions and reflections on how to change our mindset to optimally adapt to this rapidly varying environment, including the increase of interdisciplinarity and European communication, improvements to our education programs, and further fortifying the bridge between research and clinical practice. ECMP2024 will be an excellent opportunity for us to share ideas and experiences as well as to further enhance our collaboration with our industrial, vendor partners and sister organizations to deliver this vision.
Our conference city Munich offers something for all visitors: from lakes, parks and Biergärten to museums, historical sites and massive stores.
I would like to express my thanks to the Associations of Medical Physicists of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and their respective presidents, Martin Fiebich, Dietmar Georg and Marta Sans Merce, for integrating their trination congress, chaired by Katia Parodi, in ECMP2024, and for choosing an excellent venue for this event. The brand-new Science Congress Center Munich in Garching is located in a first-class research campus which sets a very good example of tight interdisciplinary collaborations around Medical Physics aiming to bring fundamental research into new clinical practices.
Welcome. Willkommen.
Yolanda Prezado
President of ECMP2024