In 2003 the foundation passed major landmarks. It awarded its last Biomedical Engineering Research Grants and Graduate Fellowships in Biomedical Engineering. Since its inception in 1976, the Research Grants program has supported the development of more than 1,500 faculty members early in their careers. For most recipients, the three-year Whitaker grant was the first award received as a result of a national competition and set the stage for subsequent awards from other granting sources, such as the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.

The fellowship program was initiated in 1992. There has been a total of 414 recipients. As a recent survey indicates, these fellowships have allowed exceptionally talented students to pursue their research interests with the freedom to choose universities, advisors, and research projects. Even though the first fellows graduated less than a decade ago, many have already achieved distinction.

The two programs were motivated by a conviction that biomedical engineering would succeed if it could attract the most promising individuals to the profession. As we visit universities, we hear that biomedical engineering students are indeed among those with the highest academic standing. Since the field is especially challenging, we find this reassuring.

The decision to close in 2006 has allowed the foundation to help universities construct buildings that would house biomedical engineering departments. Since the construction of major facilities is expensive, the foundation has required grantees to provide considerable matching funds. In 2003 six universities indicated their commitment to construct buildings for biomedical engineering, raise the necessary funds, and conclude construction by the time the foundation closes. As a result, the foundation's $24 million building construction investment in these institutions will be leveraged fourfold. This brings the total to 15 universities that have received foundation support for building construction for biomedical engineering.

Although most of our grant programs no longer accept applications, we continue monitoring annual progress on all our grants, ranging from fellowships to major construction awards. We are also examining how new, short-term initiatives may have long-term benefits. For example, the foundation plans a major conference on biomedical engineering education in early 2005. This conference will be a follow-up to the Biomedical Engineering Educational Summit Meeting held in 2000. The new summit meeting will describe educational innovations over the past years, identify "best practices," and examine how the needs of biomedical engineering industry should be served by the curriculum.

We are often asked about the prospects of biomedical engineering after 2006. We believe that the prospects are bright. There is now an almost universal recognition that advances in biology and medicine are linked closely to contributions from the physical sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Old and new funding agencies emphasize the need for cross-disciplinary research, and the demand for people with a strong multidisciplinary training is growing. While Whitaker support might be missed by some faculty members starting their careers, opportunities for alternative funding have increased substantially over the past years. Since the field is now firmly established, we are sure that talented and well-educated biomedical engineers will succeed!

This is the 10th in our series of our annual reports. It continues the tradition of focusing on a particular disease or research area where contributions of biomedical engineers have been substantial. In the past, we have dealt with medical imaging, tissue engineering, drug delivery, the heart, the brain, and biomechanics, among others. This year we are examining diabetes and how biomedical engineers are involved in treating the disease and its complications. It is instructive to notice the trend of moving from purely technological solutions to those that are biologically based, taking advantage of increased basic understanding of the underlying disease. This trend characterizes all of biomedical engineering.

Our 2002 annual report started to examine the foundation's programs and its accomplishments by considering its Research Grants program for starting faculty members. This 2003 report describes the results of programs designed to enhance the education of students. The 2004 report will examine our major institutional awards. Our final report in 2005 will be a retrospective, but with a look toward the future.

G. Burtt Holmes
Chairman, Foundation Governing Committee

Peter G. Katona
President and Chief Executive Officer, The Whitaker Foundation