The International Organization for Medical Physics - a driving force for the global development of medical physics.

The International Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP) is the world's largest professional organization in the field of medical physics and has official non-governmental organization status with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). IOMP is charged with a mission to advance medical physics practice worldwide by disseminating scientific and technical information, fostering the educational and professional development of medical physics and promoting the highest quality medical services for patients. IOMP's activities are directed towards the promotion of medical physics globally, improving patient care, and contributing to the benefit of healthcare to the society. Major organizational activities include but are not limited to scientific events, international collaborations, dissemination of information, education, training, and research. For nearly 60 years of existence, IOMP turned into a key factor not only in the field of medical physics, but also healthcare, and other related disciplines. IOMP is looking forward to future perspectives in international collaboration and enhancement of the professional skills, all directed towards enhancing patient benefit.

The International Organization for Medical Physics with its logo depicted in Fig. 1 is the world’s largest professional organization in the field of medical physics [1]. IOMP was established in 1963 and currently represents over 27,000 medical physicists worldwide in 87 adhering national member organizations (NMOs), 2 affiliate national organizations and 6 Regional Organizations (RO) namely u: European Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics (EFOMP), Asian-Oceania Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics (AFOMP), Latin American Medical Physics Association (ALFIM), Southeast Asian Federation for Medical Physics (SEAFOMP), Federation of African Medical Physics Organizations (FAMPO), and Middle East Federation of Organizations for Medical Physics (MEFOMP) [2-7].

Fig. 1

The international Organization for Medical Physics (IOMP)

IOMP is charged with a mission to advance medical physics practice worldwide by disseminating scientific and technical information, fostering the educational and professional development of medical physics and promoting the highest quality medical services for patients. IOMP’s objectives are to organize international cooperation in medical physics and allied subjects; to contribute to the advancement of medical physics in all its aspects, especially in developing countries; and to encourage and advise on the formation of national organizations of medical physics in those countries which lack such organizations.

IOMP has Strategic Plan that is going to be updated in every term. The current plan for 2018–2022 is available on IOMP website [8].

IOMP is in official non-governmental organization status with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

IOMP is a member and one of the two constituent organizations of the International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM) – Union Member of the International Science Council (ISC) [9, 10].

IOMP structure

IOMP is society of societies and as such its maintains balanced structure and governance to correspond to the actual relationships at all organizational levels with primary objectives in the fields of international cooperation and advancement of medical physics.

Council

The Council is the ultimate authority of the IOMP. The Council is guided in all its decisions by the tradition of free international scientific cooperation.

The IOMP Council consists of: delegates appointed by the national organizations, the officers, the immediate past Secretary-General, representatives of the Regional Organizations, IOMP Committee chairs, the Editor of Medical Physics World, non-voting representatives of the corporate members and non-voting observers.

General Assembly

The IOMP General Assembly consists of all the members of the IOMP. Its role is to enable a direct dialogue by individual Members with the Council. IOMP values the contibution of every individual medical physicists and therefore the General Assembly is a tribune each member may attend and speak at.

Executive committee

The IOMP Executive Committee (ExCom) is responsible for implementing the decisions of the Council, for performing the operational business of the Organization and for proposing to Council strategies to take forward the objectives of the IOMP. ExCom consists of the Officers and the Chairs of Committees and is chaired by the IOMP President.

Collaboration

IOMP works together with International Organizations such as IAEA, WHO and International Labour Organization (ILO) to strengthen the role of Medical Physicists. As a result, ILO had classified medical physicists as a profession in the International Standard Classification of Occupations-08 (ICSO-08). Medical physicist is recognized as a health professional under International Basic Safety Standards which is jointly sponsored by European Commission (EC), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), IAEA, ILO, Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA), Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and WHO, which is an important reference document for governments for recognition of medical physicist IOMP has formal relations with International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) [11].

IOMP collaborates with organizations in development of a professional certification system for medical physicists that can be implemented on a global basis.

Recognition of professional contribution

IOMP is a society of societies, and as such we value the contribution of all our member societies for the development of medical physics. Throughout the year the most brilliant minds working in the field of medical physics have voluntarily contributed their knowledge and expertise to grow the organization and for the benefit of the patients and healthcare. To acknowledge their contribution and excellence in the various professional aspects of medical physics IOMP has created a set of awards and honours (Table 1). In 2013, IOMP’s 50th Anniversary turned into a driving factor to set the selection of 50 Outstanding Medical Physicists (Table 2).

Table 1

IOMP awards recipients [12]

Awardee	Awarded at
MARIA SKLODOWSKA-CURIE AWARD
Prof. John R Cameron, USA	WC 2000, Chicago, USA
Prof. Andree Dutreix, France	WC 2003, Sydney, Australia
Prof. John R Cunningham, Canada	WC 2006, Seoul, Korea
Prof. Azam Niroomand-Rad, USA	WC 2009, Munich, Germany
Prof. Charles A Mistretta, USA	WC 2012, Beijing, China
Prof. Colin Orton, USA	WC 2015, Toronto, Canada
Prof. Kwan Ng, Malaysia	WC 2018, Prague, Czech Republic
Prof. Ehsan Samei, USA	WC 2022, Singapore
HAROLD JOHNS MEDAL
Prof. Perry Sprawls, USA	2003, WC Sydney, Australia
Dr. Slavik Tabakov, UK	2006, WC, Seoul, Korea
Dr. Madan Rehani, IAEA, Austria	2009, WC, Munich, Germany
Dr. Ahmed Meghzifene, IAEA, Austria	2012, WC, Beijing, China
Prof. William Hendee, USA	2015, WC, Toronto, Canada
Prof. Anchali Krisanachinda, Thailand	2018, WC, Prague, Czech Republic
Prof. George Starkschall, USA	WC 2022, Singapore
JOHN MALLARD AWARD
Prof. Paul Marsden	2016, ICMP, Bangkok, Thailand
Prof. Thomas Rockwell Mackie	2019, ICMP, Santiago, Chile
IUPAP YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD IN MEDICAL PHYSICS
Dr. Ali Asghar Mowlai, Iran	2006
Dr. Leif Schröder, Germany	2009
Dr. Magdalena Stoeva, Bulgaria	2012
Dr. Ferdinand Schweser, Germany	2013
Dr. Jan-Bernd Hövener, Germany	2014
Dr. Guerda Massillon-JL, Mexico	2015
Dr. Francis Hasford, Ghana	2016
Dr. Abdul Nashirudeen Mumuni, Ghana	2017
Dr Kuo Men, China	2018
Dr Mitsuhiro Nakamura, Japan	2019
Dr Jaydev K Dave, USA	2020
Dr Chai Hong Yeong, Malaysia	2021
IUPAP YOUNG SCIENTIST AWARD IN BIOLOGICAL PHYSICS
Dr. Habib Zaidi, Switzerland	2007, 6th International Conference on Biological Physics, Montevideo, Uruguay
IUPESM AWARD OF MERIT
Prof. John Mallard, UK (IOMP)	1988, WC, San Antonio, USA
Dr. J. A. Hopps, Canada	1991, WC, Kyoto, Japan
Prof. Rune Walstam, Sweden (IOMP)	1994, WC, Rio de Janerio, Brazil
Prof. John Cunningham, Canada (IOMP)	1997, WC, Nice, France
Prof. Keith Boddy, UK (IOMP)	2000, WC, Chicago, USA
Prof. Colin Orton, USA (IOMP)	2003, WC, Sydney, Australia
Prof. Pedro Andreo, Spain/Sweden	2006, WC, Seoul, Korea
Prof. Gary Fullerton, USA (IOMP)	2009, WC, Munich, Germany
Prof. Caridad Borrás, USA	2012, WC, Beijing, China
Prof. Peter Smith, UK (IOMP)	2015, WC, Toronto, Canada
Prof. Eliseo Vano, Spain (IOMP)	2018, WC, Prague, Czech Republic
Prof. Xie George Xu, China	WC 2022, Singapore
IOMP HONORARY MEMBERS
Dr. Adriana Velazquez Berumen Dr. James A Brink	2015, WC, Toronto, Canada
Mrs. Sally Hawking	2018, WC, Prague
Dr. Noora Al Hamadi Dr. Donald Miller	2021, virtually presented
FIOMP
Barry Allen, Australia Carlos E. de Almeida, Brazil Caridad Borrás, USA/Spain Kin Yin Cheung, Hong Kong Oscar Chomiki, Poland G. Donald Frey, USA Gary Fullerton, USA William R. Hendee, USA Kwan Hoong Ng, Malaysia George Mawko, Canada Azam Niroomand-Rad, USA Fridtjof Nuesslin, Germany Colin Orton, USA Madan Rehani, India Peter Smith, United Kingdom Perry Sprawl, USA Slavik Tabakov, United Kingdom Raymond K. Wu, USA	2013, ICMP
Prof. Ervin Podgorsak Prof. Yimin Hu Prof. Kyio Inamura Dr. Ishmael Parsai Dr. Stelios Christophides Dr. Anchali Krisanachinda	2015, WC
Prof. John Damilakis Prof. Tomas Kron Prof. Tae Suk Suh Dr. Virginia Tsapaki	2016, ICMP
Dr. Agnette de Perio Peralta, Philippines Dr. Ahmed Ibn Seddik, Morocco Dr. Ibrahim Duhaini, Lebanon Dr. Simone Kodlulovich Renha, Brazil Prof. Muthana Al-Ghazi, USA	2017, AOCMP
Prof. Geoff Ibbott Dr. Yakov Pipman Prof. Magdalena Stoeva Dr. Melissa Martin ICMP 2019 Antonny Siebert Ehsan Samei Peter Sharp Mahadevappa Mahesh Howell Round Djawarni Soejoko Marta W. Radwańska (in memorian)	2018, WC
Arun Chougule Fredy Haryanto Habib Zaidi Kharita Hassan Taofeeq Ige Xiaowu Deng Steve Balter Golam Abu Zakaria	2021
IDMP AWARD
Jamila Salem Humaid Ali, MEFOMP Renato Padovani, EFOMP Kavuma Awusi, FAMPO Hasin Anupama Azhari, AFOMP María Ester Brandan, ALFIM Caridad Borrás, AAPM	2018
Efi Koutsouveli, EFOMP Eva Bezak, AFOMP Jacob van Dyk, AAPM Hanan Aldousari, MEFOMP Moses Adebayo Aweda, FAMPO	2019
Tae Suk-Suh, AFOMP Carlos E. Almeida, ALFIM Oliver Blanck, EFOMP Christoph Trauernicht, FAMPO Mohammad Hassan Kharita, MEFOMP Djarwani S. Soejoko, SEAFOMP Robert Jeraj, AAPM	2020
Stephen Balter, AAPM Shigekazu Fukuda, AFOMP Jose Perez Calatayud, EFOMP Michel Salvator Israel, BSMPE Francis Hasford, GSMP Mashari Al-nuaimi, KAMP/MEFOMP	2021

Table 2

50 Outstanding Medical Physicists during the Period 1963–2013 [13]

Awardee	Country
Allen, Barry J	Australia
Allisy-Roberts, Penelope	UK
Almeida, Carlos E de	Brazil
Almond, Peter R	USA
Attix, F Herbert	USA
Boddy, Keith	UK
Borrás, Caridad	Spain and USA
Brahme, Anders	Sweden
Cameron, John R	USA
Cunningham, John R (Jack)	Canada
Fenster, Aaron	Canada
Giger, Maryellen L	USA
Harder, Dietrich	Germany
Hendee, William R	USA
Hounsfield, Godfrey N	UK
Hu, Yimin	PR China
Kalender, Willi	Germany
Kappas, Constantin	Greece
Kawachi, Kiyomitsu	Japan
Kostylev, Valeriy	Russia
Krisanachinda, Anchali	Thailand
Kron, Tomas	Australia
Lanzl, Lawrence H	USA
Laughlin, John S	USA
Lauterbur, Paul C	USA
Ling, C Clifton	USA
Mallard, John	UK
Malone, Jim	Ireland
Mansfield, Peter	UK
Mattsson, Sören	Sweden
Mistretta, Charles A	USA
Ng, Kwan-Hoong	Malaysia
Nüsslin, Fridtjof	Germany
Orton, Colin G	USA
Perez-Calatuyud, Jose	Spain
Podgorsak, Ervin B	Canada
Pradhan, Ambika Sahai	India
Rehani, Madan M	Austria and India
Rogers, David W O	Canada
Rosenwald, Jean-Claude	France
Schlegel, Wolfgang	Germany
Suh, Tae Suk	Korea
Svensson, Hans	Sweden
Tanaka, Eiichi	Japan
Thwaites, David	Australia
Tosi, Giampiero	Italy
Townsend, David W	USA and Singapore
Van Dyk, Jacob (Jake)	Canada
Webb, Steve	UK
Wells, Peter	UK

Historical record

Like most, if not all, scientific societies, the IOMP relies heavily on the support of our members to preserve history of our organization. Many members have dedicated their time and effort to advance the goals and objectives of the Organization. To document this support, the History Sub-Committee provides the Historical Data Tables that document the work of those individuals who have, over the years, committed time and energy to make it possible for IOMP to achieve its aims and aspirations [14, 15].

IOMP major activities

IOMP’s activities are not only based on top-down approach but include grassroot actions that strengthen medical physicists globally in handling day-to-day work for patient benefit. IOMP actively promotes the profession by reaching out to all parties at global scale (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2

IOMP pro-actively interacts with its members

The International Day of Medical Physics (IDMP) is celebrated every year on November 7th, the birthday of Marie Skłodowska–Curie. It was established in 2013 and celebrated every year since then. It unites medical physicists throughout the world under different activities related to our profession [16]. During the 10 years of its existence IDMP has been dedicated to a number of themes as below:

IDMP 2013: Radiation Exposure from Medical Procedures, ask the Medical Physicist!

IDMP 2014: Looking into the Body – Advancement in Imaging throughout Medical Physics

IDMP 2015: Better Medical Physics = Better Cancer Care in Radiation Oncology

IDMP 2016: Education in Medical Physics – the Key to Success

IDMP 2017: Medical Physics: Providing Holistic Approach to Women Patients and Women Staff Safety in Radiation Medicine (dedicated to Maria Curie’s 150.th anniversary)

IDMP 2018: Medical Physics for Patient Benefit

IDMP 2019: It’s a Medical Physics World (Dedicated to IOMP MPW 35.th anniversary)

IDMP 2020: Medical Physicist as Health Professional

IDMP 2021: Communicating the Role of Medical Physicists to the Public

IDMP 2022: Medical Physics for Sustainable Healthcare (dedicated to 2022—the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development)

The International Medical Physics Week (IMPW) is among IOMP’s newest initiatives that support networking, collaboration and professional development among medical physicists [17]. IMPW was established in 2019 and first IMPW was celebrated in 2020. It was in consideration of various aspects of strength and weakness of international day, and for us IDMP, that IOMP felt the need to supplement IDMP by IMPW. IMPW is held in-between the 2 consecutive IDMPs. While the date for IDMP is fixed on 7th Nov, the date for IMPW happens either in later part of April or in early part of May. Every year ExCom debates and decides the dates well in advance. It provides possibilities by which member countries can organize events in respective cities and country with the objectives: a) of popularizing the profession among other colleagues in the clinical and non-clinical field as also among public, b). of promoting medical physics among physics colleagues to let them know how their students can find a career in medical physics, and c) to let medical physicists know how they can do better in patient care. Organizers are welcome to choose their theme that best suits them locally.

The IOMP School was established in 2016 and its mission is to extend and coordinate teaching activities globally. Since then, IOMP School activities have been organized in connection with major medical physics events [18]. IOMP School promotes education and exchange of professional knowledge between medical physicists with various expertise. Some of the world’s leading medical physicist have delivered lectures as part of the IOMP School programs.

The International Conference on Medical Physics (ICMP) is a triennial event organized by IOMP in collaboration with national and regional organizations [19]. Balanced regional coverage is a major aspect of the ICMPs. The past 25 ICMPs have been organized organized as stand-alone events or as part of the World Congress:

1965: Harrogate, UK

1969: Boston, USA

1972: Goteborg, Sweden

1976: Ottawa, Canada

1979: Jerusalem, Israel

1982: Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany

1985: Espoo, near Helsinki, Finland

1988: San Antonio, USA

1991: Kyoto, Japan

1994: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

1997: Nice, France

2000: Chicago, USA

2003: Sydney, Australia

2005: Nuremberg, Germany

2006: Seoul, Korea

2008: Dubai, United Arab Republic

2009: Munich, Germany

2011: Porto Alegre, Brazil

2012: Beijing, China

2013: IOMP 50th Anniversary: Brighton, UK

2015: Toronto, Canada

2016: Bangkok, Thailand

2018: Prague, Czech Republic

2019: Santiago, Chile

2022: Singapore

2023: Mumbai, India

The World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering is the major scientific event for medical physicists and biomedical engineers. It is organized triennially by the International Union for Physical and Engineering Sciences in Medicine (IUPESM) [20]. The list of all World Congresses is as follows:

Jerusalem, Israel, 1979

Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany, 1982

Espoo, near Helsinki, Finland, 1985

San Antonio, USA, 1988

Kyoto, Japan, 1991

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1994

Nice, France, 1997

Chicago, USA, 2000

Sydney, Australia, 2003

Seoul, Korea, 2006

Munich, Germany, 2009

Beijing, China, 2012

Toronto, Canada, 2015

Prague, Czech Republic, 2018

Singapore, 2022

IOMP’s role during the global COVID-19 pandemic

The global COVID-19 pandemic affected all aspects of medical physicists’ professional life. The role of the professional societies increased as there was a need to add momentum to activities in the background of lull period as a result of the restrictions imposed to our daily and professional routines. IOMP stood to the challenge and played leading role by initialing webinars. It resulted in motivation of societies during this difficult period by keeping up to the best professional standards and increasing educational, academic and clinical skills. To support our members IOMP developed sets of activities directed towards disseminating reliable professional information, supporting networking & collaboration, and further professional development for our members as:

On-line information resources on COVID-19 [21]

IOMP Newsletter [22]

IOMP Webinars, Table 3 [23]

Table 3

IOMP Webinars [18]

Topic	Speaker(s)	Link to recorded version
CT scan parameters and radiation dose	Mahadevappa Mahesh	https://youtu.be/Z3qOKVP564A
Monte Carlo simulation of dosimetry problems in proton therapy	Lorenzo Brualla	https://youtu.be/a2SLeiGhQIA
A comprehensive approach to the management of radiotherapy patients with implanted cardiac devices	Dimitris Mihailidis	https://youtu.be/MnRoG7fDnXU
Smaller! Faster! More! Advanced X-Ray Breast Imaging and its Role Beyond Cancer Diagnosis	Ioannis Sechopoulos	https://youtu.be/FsqEJOnEmwU
Radionuclide therapy patients in public: The original social distancing	Nicholas Forwood	https://youtu.be/XbNKlFo3Mqo
Physics Aspect of Clinical Implementation of MR-Linac	K. Y. Cheung	https://youtu.be/rxmis9F8U5w
Artificial Intelligence in Medical Physics and Medicine: Challenges and Opportunities	Steve Jiang	https://youtu.be/x373_3g7I9s
What is radiomics? What is its relationship to machine learning and deep learning? Potential value and pitfalls of machine learning for radiomics applications	Arman Rahmin Mathieu Hatt	https://youtu.be/Y1wwerL5j7U
Understanding the limitations of current CT dosimetry and the way forward	John Damilakis	https://youtu.be/ecTv9uGQNKU
Engaging medical professionals, physicists, engineers, and biologists in medical machine learning projects: experience from the Australian Institute for Machine Learning Expanding Quantitative Medicine through AI and Automation AI in clinical trials Panel discussion	Johan Verjans Price Jackson Lois Holloway Jonathan Sykes	https://youtu.be/6bb2scwM4Ro
The importance of certification and accreditation in medical physics	Colin G. Orton	https://youtu.be/K9U9nC8iXZ0
From radiobiological challenges to imaging biomarkers in personalised radiotherapy	Iuliana Toma-Dasu Loredana G. Marcu	https://youtu.be/xdhVMQ0xP-o
Proton Facility Shielding: Regulatory and Design Aspects	Katja Maria Langen Nisy Elizabeth Ipe	https://youtu.be/PH0WqCiPLKA
Colin Martin: Effective dose in Medicine Effective dose: Is it poor man’s cake? Panel discussion: “Is Effective dose thriving or dying?”	Colin Martin Madan Rehani	https://youtu.be/BQcTG4ybYCE
e-Learning in Medical Physics Education – How much, When and How – A Reflection After 20 Years Experience	Slavik Tabakov	https://youtu.be/4v3F4N-j4JY
IOMP-IDMP Webinar: Medical physicist as a health professional	Ola Holmberg Giorgia Loretti Madan Rehani Ibrahim Duhaini Ad Maas Brenda Byrne Hassan Kharita Sandra Guzman Taofeeq Ige Arun Chougule Freddy Haryanto	https://youtu.be/2L4Ive6zm-Y
Publishing in medical physics journals	Paolo Russo Iuliana Toma-Dasu	https://youtu.be/u2fzJcQ8KlM
Personalized dosimetry for CT and interventional procedures	Hilde Bosmans	https://youtu.be/_kkNgvTZSbk
IOMP webinar jointly with WHO, IRPA and IAEA on Radiation Safety Culture	Dr. Debbie Gilley, IAEA Dr. Madan Rehani, IOMP Dr. Bernard le Guen, IRPA Dr. Maria Perez, WHO	https://youtu.be/BTm3kC8ft8I
Joint IAEA–IOMP–CIRSE webinar: What’s new in understanding radiation risks for patients in interventional procedures	Dr. Madan Rehani, IOMP Werner Jaschke (CIRSE)	https://youtu.be/xdxsedOHsSA
IOMP-ALFIM webinars in Spanish language: Seguridad y Protección en salas de Resonamcia Magnética: Actualización / Safety and Protection procedures in the MRI Suite	Dr. Manuel Arreola	https://youtu.be/IfqJaoqciTc
Joint IAEA–IOMP webinar: Patients Undergoing Recurrent CT Imaging: Managing Cumulative Doses	Dr. Madan Rehani, IOMP	https://youtu.be/hKsfmAhR4Fg
Radioterapia de Pulmón utilizando IMRT/VMAT y SBRT / Lung IMRT/VMAT and SBRT	Cesar Della-Biancia	https://youtu.be/v4SMZ0Ikk1U
Monochromatic X-rays: A new source with potential to replace century-old technology	Madan Rehani Eric Silver	https://youtu.be/3YKCyQNbDQU
Artificial Intelligence and medical physics: The initial experience of the SINFONIA Horizon project	John Damilakis Habib Zaidi	https://youtu.be/UYohMIrpAIY
Patient radiation protection: How IAEA and WHO are contributing?	Ola Holmberg Maria Perez	https://youtu.be/-vzduiPsCus
Does contact shielding improve patient safety?	Paddy Gilligan	https://youtu.be/tJF1KH5BSgI
The management of unintended and accidental exposures	Colin Martin	https://youtu.be/hUZuHfYiRU0
Publishing in medical physics	Katia Parodi John Boone	https://youtu.be/RkGuBCN8TRg
I tested this x-ray system: Is it acceptable for clinical use?	Stephen Balter	https://youtu.be/a6rqAh1loPY
CTV-PTV Margins in Stereotactic Radiosurgery: Do we need them?	John Shakeshaft	https://youtu.be/b0DBzK6qq9c
Cardiac radioablation: An introduction, an overview, and how medical physicists could help shape its future	Suzy Lydiard	https://youtu.be/xDw4le-C8dk
New Tools of Phantoms, Monte Carlo Calculations, and AI for Medical Physics Applications	Xie George Xu	https://youtu.be/_MC1HuPw1-k
IOMP webinar on IDMP 2021: Communicating the Role of Medical Physicists to the Public	Joan Leach Jeanne Erdmann Peter Rickwood	https://youtu.be/ODgdY-PEFvE
Modelling the invasiveness of high-grade gliomas using computational tools – from imaging to radiotherapy target definition	Wille Häger	https://youtu.be/S8NzZjPrsxM
Re-igniting the role of physics in medicine	Robert Jeraj	https://youtu.be/O00na0IEnTs
Image quality monitoring, Medical Physics 3.0, and patient-centered care	Ehsan Samei	https://youtu.be/Z2MukCk5XlA
Biologically Targeted Radiotherapy: utilising imaging biomarkers to characterise tumour heterogeneity for precision radiation therapy	Annette Haworth	https://youtu.be/on3jK7zTePw
IOMP-ICRP Webinar: Are radiation risks below 100 mGy for example through recurrent CT procedures of real concern for radiological protection?	Werner Ruehm Dominique Laurier Richard Wakeford	https://youtu.be/IAbcnB5Satk
Non-cancer effects associated with low to moderate doses radiation exposure: what we know so far from epidemiological studies	Marie-Odile Bernier Sophie Jacob	https://youtu.be/XIS7eGNz2C8
Computational challenges in patient dose	Choonsik Lee Manuel Bardiès	https://youtu.be/AkLoCGVgcRU
GEANT4 for medical physics applications: an overview and latest updates & Overview of the Geant4-DNA project	Susanna Guatelli Sebastien Incerti	https://youtu.be/uQEUZ5-Sl18
Virtual imaging trials in breast imaging	Hilde Bosmans	https://youtu.be/4kMpBinuaLE
Relative biological effectiveness of protons – time for a change?	Iuliana Toma-Dasu	https://youtu.be/wbjFvKzw8aQ

Collaboration with partnering organizations

Officers

The IOMP officers are the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary General, the Treasurer and the Immediate Past-President of the organization. IOMP officers have the highest rank and responsibility among all ExCom members. Theroughout the years some of the most recoginizable medical physicists worldwide have served as IOMP officers (Table 4).

Table 4

IOMP Officers

Term	Position	Officer	Country
1962–1965	President	S. Benner	Sweden
	Vice-President	L F Lamerton	UK
	Secretary General	J R Mallard	UK
	Treasurer
	Past President
1965–1969	President	W V Mayneord	UK
	Vice-President	J S Laughlin	USA
	Secretary General	B Waldeskog	Sweden
	Treasurer
	Past President	S. Benner	Sweden
1969–1972	President	J S Laughlin	USA
	Vice-President	R I Magnusson	Sweden
	Secretary General	J R Cameron	USA
	Treasurer
	Past President	W V Mayneord	UK
1972–1976	President	R I Magnusson	Sweden
	Vice-President	R Mathieu	Canada
	Secretary General	J R Cameron	USA
	Treasurer
	Past President	J S Laughlin	USA
1976–1979	President	R Mathieu	Canada
	Vice-President	J R Mallard	UK
	Secretary General	R Walstam	Sweden
	Treasurer
	Past President	R I Magnusson	Sweden
1979–1982	President	J R Mallard	UK
	Vice-President	A Kaul	Germany
	Secretary General	R Walstam	Sweden
	Treasurer
	Past President	R Mathieu	Canada
1982–1985	President	Alexander Kaul,	Germany
	Vice-President	Lawrence H Lanzl,	USA
	Secretary General	Brian Stedeford,	UK
	Treasurer
	Past President	J R Mallard	UK
1985–1988	President	Lawrence H Lanzl	USA
	Vice-President	John R Cunningham	Canada
	Secretary General	Brian Stedeford	UK
	Treasurer
	Past President	Alexander Kaul,	Germany
1988–1991	President	John R Cunningham	Canada
	Vice-President	Udipi Madhvanath	India
	Secretary General	Colin G Orton	USA
	Treasurer
	Past President	Lawrence H Lanzl	USA
1991–1994	President	Udipi Madhvanath	India
	Vice-President	Keith Boddy	UK
	Secretary General	Colin G Orton	USA
	Treasurer
	Past President	John R Cunningham	Canada
1994–1997	President	Keith Boddy	UK
	Vice-President	Colin Orton	USA
	Secretary General	Hans Svensson,	Sweden
	Treasurer	Ann Dixon-Brown,	UK
	Past President	Udipi Madhvanath	India
1997–2000	President	Colin Orton	USA
	Vice-President	Oskar Chomiski:	Poland
	Secretary General	Gary Fullerton	USA
	Treasurer	Gary Fullerton	USA
	Past President	Keith Boddy	UK
2000–2003	President	Oskar Chomski	Poland
	Vice-President	Azam Niroomand-Rad	USA
	Secretary General	Gary Fullerton	USA
	Treasurer	Nisakorn Manatrakul/G. Mckow	Thailand/Canada
	Past President	Colin Orton	USA
2003–2006	President	Azam Niroomand-Rad	USA
	Vice-President	Barry Allen	Australia
	Secretary General	Peter Smith	UK
	Treasurer	George Mckow	Canada
	Past President	Oskar Chomski	Poland
2006–2009	President	Barry Allen	Australia
	Vice-President	Fridtjof Nusslin	Germany
	Secretary General	Peter Smith	UK
	Treasurer	George Mckow	Canada
	Past President	Azam Niroomand-Rad	USA
2009–2012	President	Fridtjof Nusslin	Germany
	Vice-President	K. Y. Cheung	Hong Kong
	Secretary General	Madan Rehani	Austria
	Treasurer	Slavik Tabakov	UK
	Past President	Barry Allen	Australia
2012–2015	President	K. Y. Cheung	Hong Kong
	Vice-President	Slavik Tabakov	UK
	Secretary General	Madan Rehani	Austria
	Treasurer	Anchali Krisanachinda	Thailand
	Past President	Fridtjof Nusslin	Germany
2015–2018	President	Slavik Tabakov	UK
	Vice-President	Madan Rehani	Austria
	Secretary General	Virginia Tsapaki	Greece
	Treasurer	Anchali Krisanachinda	Thailand
	Past President	K. Y. Cheung	Hong Kong
2018–2022	President	Madan Rehani	USA
	Vice-President	John Damilakis	Greece
	Secretary General	Virginia Tsapaki/Eva Bezak	Greece/Australia
	Treasurer	Ibrahim Duhaini	Lebanon
	Past President	Slavik Tabakov	UK
2022–2025	President	John Damilakis	Greece
	Vice-President	Eva Bezak	Australia
	Secretary General	Magdalena Stoeva	Bulgaria
	Treasurer	Ibrahim Duhaini	Lebanon
	Past President	Madan Rehani	USA

IOMP committees

IOMP structure is based on the active role of several committees and subcommittees which serve the various functional aspects of the organization and provide the optimum reach-out and collaboration at all levels with IOMP’s members and partners [24].

IOMP Science committee

The IOMP Science Committee (SC) is responsible for disseminating current information to medical physicists; assisting in the planning and conduct of regional meetings on medical physics; contributing to and reviewing scientific documents prepared by organizations such as the ICRP, the WHO, and the IAEA; and participating in various forums for the generation of scientific information in medical physics.

Members of the SC have contributed to the program committee for the WC 2022.

Several members of the SC have contributed to preparation of a report by the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). The final report has undergone extensive review by the Expert Group on Medical Exposures and by national contacts, and aspects of the work have been presented in several venues, including the ICARO-3 conference. The final report is expected to be published soon.

The SC regularly reviews applications to the IOMP for sponsorship or support of educational and professional development conferences. Before recommending support or endorsement of a conference, the committee considers the quality of the program and proposed speakers, and the potential benefit to be derived by the intended audience.

IOMP Professional Relations Committee

IOMP Professional Relations Committee is focused on promoting and supporting international cooperation on continued improvement in the status of the medical physics profession worldwide. To achieve this mission the committee is charged with the following:

To advice on and promote the standards of practice in medical physics and professional conduct.

To identify the need for international professional relations and professional standards development through symposia, regional meetings or workshops, and assist with the funding and organization of these ventures

To assist regional or national medical physics organizations to prepare IOMP sponsorship proposals for “professional relations” meetings.

To consider applications from national and regional organisations for sponsoring or endorsing meetings. Applications to be considered in accordance with the document ‘IOMP policy on Scientific, Educational and Professional Meetings’.

To consider requests for review, comment or endorsement of documents in accordance with the policy and procedure document ‘Documents Submitted to IOMP by External Organisations for Review, Comment or Endorsement’.

To manage the IOMP travel support program, this is to support delegates from developing countries to attend ICMP´s.

To prepare or provide support to develop where appropriate, policy statements, professional recommendations, codes of professional practice, and to establish or help to establish expert groups to address specific national, regional, or worldwide professional issues when needed.

To manage the Equipment Donation Program

To manage, in conjunction with the AAPM, the joint IOMP-AAPM Library Program.

IOMP Awards and Honours Committee

Following this difficult pandemic period, this committee is pleased to give to present the prestigious awards of 2021 to outstanding recipients during the IUPESM-WC 2022. The prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie Award will be given to Prof. Dr Ehsan Samei for his brilliant work in education and training and for the advancement of medical physics. Prof. Dr George Starkchall has won the Harold Johns Medal for his outstanding contributions to education and training and advancement of the profession. The IUPESM Award of Merit in Medical Physics will be given to Prof. Dr Xie George Xu for his brilliant work and significant impact on scientific practice and the development of the profession.

The AHC would like to highlight the IUPAP Award which received this year the highest number of nominations; from 12 countries and totalizing 18 nominees. It is tremendously exciting to evaluate the abundant notable work of these young medical physicists. On this occasion, we are delighted that the Award has gone to Dr Chai Hong Yeong.

Another important category is the awarding of Honorary Membership, which recognizes the significant contributions to IOMP’s objectives by professionals who are not themselves practicing Medical Physicists. The distinguished winners on this occasion were Prof. Dr Al Hammadi MD and Prof. Dr Donald L. Miller MD.

In addition, we have new Fellows of the IOMP (FIOMP), recognized for outstanding contributions to IOMP and its regional associations. These are Arun Chougule, Freddy Haryanto, Habib Zaidi, Hassan Kharita, Taofeeq Ige, Xiaowu Deng and Steve Balter.

Finally, during the Congress, the winner of the Young Scientist Competition will be announced. Through their presentation, young medical physicists are able to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and emerging leadership in their profession.

IOMP Education and Training Committee

The Education and Training Committee (ETC) of was established during the 7th ICMP in 1985 at Helsinki. First Chair of ETC was Carlos E. de Almeida from Brazil for 1985 – 1989. Present ETC is 11th committee for a period of 2018–2022 and Arun Chougule is Chair. ETC is the oldest committee of IOMP which shows importance IOMP gave to education and training of medical physicists. All the earlier ETC chairs and members have contributed for establishing and the achieving the aims and objectives of ETC.

The main objective of ETC is to advance the practice of physics in medicine by fostering the education, training, and professional development of medical physicists, and by promoting highest quality medical services for patients worldwide. The Education and Training Committee of IOMP is entrusted with development of programs related to education and training of medical physics, promotes internationally sponsored education and training programs, considers applications from national and regional organizations for IOMP endorsement and funding, harmonises and standardizes medical physics education programs, and accredits educational, residency and CPD programs.

IOMP Accreditation Board (AB) was established in 2017 for accreditation of medical physics education programmes, medical physics residency programs and CPD accreditation of education/training activities [https://www.iomp.org/accreditation/]. So far AB has accredited 4 Medical Physics education programmes and granted CPD accreditation for 9 educational training programmes. ETC evaluates applications received from organizers of scientific programmes in national member organization (NMO) countries for IOMP endorsement and/or funding from IOMP and provides the report to IOMP executive committee. ETC took the responsibility to compile and disseminate information about the medical physics education program based on the feedback from IOMP Regional Organizations. This information is available through the IOMP website since 2018. Further ETC has organized medical physics education and certification sessions during ICMP’s, NMO, RO conferences and is working closely with the ICMP and World Congress organizers for sessions on Education and Training of Medical Physics. ETC represented on Task group of IAEAs to draft the guidelines for certification of medical physicists TSC71.

IOMP Publications Committee

The IOMP Publications Committee (PubCom) (https://www.iomp.org/publications-2/) aims at providing or supporting appropriate publications as a result of research, education and professional programs of the organization. The PubCom comprises Editors or past Editors of international scientific journals in the field of Medical Physics (MP). In the last several years efforts were devoted to promoting publications in MP via the IOMP Series in Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering (MPBME), published by CRC Press, and in the recognition and involvement of main journals in MP. At present, after PubCom proposed the Guidelines for becoming a scientific publication of IOMP, seven Journals external to IOMP are scientific publications of IOMP: Physics in Medicine and Biology, Physiological Measurement, Medical Physics, Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics, Physica Medica – European Journal of Medical Physics, Journal of Medical Physics (JMP), Radiological Physics and Technology.

They join the IOMP official publication Medical Physics International (http://mpijournal.org), fundamental and worldwide diffused publication of IOMP. Via the agreements with those Journals, IOMP may also indicate members in their editorial board, contributing to promoting their spread and scientific activity. The MPBME Series now comprises 78 titles, with as many as 44 books published in the last 5 years [25]. Sample copies of these publications may be distributed to medical physicists worldwide, in particular in low- and middle-income countries, to facilitate their access to high level scientific publications in MP.

PubCom assists IOMP members wishing to propose publication of new materials in MP.

IOMP Medical Physics World Board

IOMP Medical Physics World Board is focused on ensuring the communication between IOMP and our members and partners worldwide as well as providing internal support for IOMP committees and governance on various aspects related to dissemination of information, technical support, marketing, etc.

IOMP Medical Physics World Board ‘s is charged with the following:

To contribute to the advancement of medical physics worldwide by providing a bulletin to all members covering IOMP activities and matters of interest to medical physicists.

To disseminate information, promote communication and provide news of use for all countries but especially in developing countries.

To seek out information of use to IOMP members from the Officers, Committee Chairs, World Congress Presidents, Regional meeting Organizers and other representatives of IOMP functions and communicate such information to the worldwide membership.

To assist the IOMP Officers to improve communications by suggesting publication alternatives and preparing proposals for improved methods of achieving MPW goals.

To seek advertising support for MPW to achieve self-funding of the bulletin.

The committee is also responsible for the publication of the IOMP Medical Physics World (https://www.iomp.org/medical-physics-world) – the official bulletin of the IOMP which recently celebrated its 35th anniversary.

IOMP Medical Physics World Board played a key role during the global COVID-19 pandemic which turned the online resources into main communication channel and tool to reach-out to individual MPs worldwide.

IOMP History Sub-committee

IOMP History Sub-Committee (HSC) was established in 2008 (during the term of office headed by President Barry Allen). HSC was developed as a Sub-Committee of the IOMP Publications Committee (at that time Chaired by William Hendee). The Description and Charge of the HSC were incorporated in the IOMP Bylaws. HSC main objective includes recognition of the IOMP members who have made major contribution(s) to the IOMP and acknowledgement of the contributions of EXCOM and various IOMP activities.

The founding members of the HSC (2008–2012) were: Azam Niroomand-Rad (Chair); Colin Orton; Slavik Tabakov; Robert Gould. At that period the main tables with contributors to the IOMP ExCom and various committees were composed and uploaded at the IOMP web site. Also, papers were written about IOMP History and published by the IOMP Journal Medical Physics International (MPI) in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Oragnisation. In 2009 interviews begun with distinguished medical physicists. These were normally made during the World Congresses.

Azam Niroomand-Rad continued to Chair HSC in the period 2012–2015; HSC Chair (2015–2018) was KY Cheung; HSC Chair (2018–2022) was S Tabakov. In these periods active members of the HSC were C.Orton and P.Smith (alongside the Ex Officio members).

In the period 2018–2022 the History tables were updated and a new activity related to medical physics history was initiated by the IOMP Journal MPI – Special Issues on Medical Physics History—an activity edited by S. Tabakov, P. Sprawls and G. Ibbott, which attracted many eminent medical physicists. These took part in the preparation of 6 Special Issues.

IOMP Women Sub-committee

IOMP Women Subcommittee’s objective is in compliance with the main IOMP mission to advance medical physics practice worldwide by disseminating scientific and technical information, fostering the educational and professional development of medical physicists, and promoting the highest quality medical services for patients.

We are focused on various types of activities re to assisting women MPs with their professional development and attracting more women to medical physics and STEM in general.

IOMP Women subcommittee is charged with the following:

Develop, implement and coordinate tasks and projects related to the role of females in medical physics scientific, educational and practical aspects.

Popularize the role of the women in medical physics and encourage female medical physicist to advance in the profession.

Provide regular status/progress updates to the IOMP on all tasks and projects related to the IOMP Female Group.

Promote the contribution of female medical physicists at major scientific conferences such as WC and ICMP.

Looking forward into the future

For nearly 60 years of existence IOMP turned into a key factor not only in the field of medical physics, but also healthcare, and other related disciplines. Being led by the world’s most recognized medical physicists and working in close collaboration with its societal and individual members and partners, IOMP is looking forward to future perspectives in international collaboration and enhancement of the professional skills, all directed towards enhancing patient benefit.