Page 20 - Biomedical Engineering and Design Handbook Volume 1, Fundamentals

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xix

The last two parts of the Handbook deal with interactions between biomedical engineering prac-
titioners and both patients and medical institutions. Part 7, which covers rehabilitation engineering,
includes chapters that treat not only the design and implementation of artificial limbs, but also ways
in which engineers provide environments and assistive devices that improve a person’s quality of
life. Part 8, the last part of the Handbook, deals with clinical engineering, which can be considered
the facilities-planning and management component of biomedical engineering.

Acknowledgments

The contributors to this Handbook work mainly in academia and hospitals. Several work in com-
mercial organizations. Most work in the United States and Canada; a few work in Israel. What they
all have in common is that what they do is useful and important: they make our lives better. That
these busy people were able to find the time to write chapters for this Handbook is nothing short of
miraculous. I am indebted to all of them. I am additionally indebted to multiple-chapter contributors
Ron Adrezin of the University of Hartford and Don Peterson of the University of Connecticut School
of Medicine for helping me organize the biomechanics chapters in the handbook, and for recruiting
other contributors, Mike Nowak, a colleague at the University of Hartford and Anthony Brammer,
now a colleague at the University of Connecticut Health Center. Also, contributor Alf Dolan of the
University of Toronto was especially helpful in recommending contributors for the clinical engi-
neering chapters.
Thanks to both of my editors at McGraw-Hill—Linda Ludwig, who signed the Handbook, and
Ken McCombs, who saw the project to its completion. Thanks also to Dave Fogarty, who managed
McGraw-Hill’s editing process smoothly and expeditiously.
I want to give the final word to my wife Arlene, the family medical researcher and expert, in
recognition of her patience and support throughout the life of this project, from development of the
idea, to selection and recruiting of contributors, to receipt and editing of manuscripts: “It is our hope
that this Handbook will not only inform and enlighten biomedical engineering students and practi-
tioners in their present pursuits, but also provide a broad and sturdy staircase to facilitate their ascent
to heights not yet scaled.”
Myer Kutz
Albany, New York