I recently had the unique opportunity to travel down to Guadalajara to participate in the first annual International Forum on Biomedical Engineering at the Tecnológico de Monterrey campus Guadalajara. I have known the Director of the Biomedical Engineering department, Dr. Misael Caballero, for the past four years. In 2006, we had the opportunity to collaborate together on a prosthetic case involving a patient who sustained wrist disarticulation amputations on both her right and left arm. Earlier this year Dr. Caballero invited me to speak at this conference on the topic of Advancements in Upper Limb Prosthetic Technology. And although my Spanish is pretty non-existent, I decided this would be an excellent opportunity to teach about our field and provide exposure to not only the advancements in technologies but also the advancements that have been made in therapy and psychosocial considerations for those patients dealing with an upper limb amputation.
So, my tickets were purchased and I was on my way for this adventure. My past experience with Mexico involved beaches and margaritas so I was unsure of what to expect going to Guadalajara. Upon my arrival, I met with Dr. Caballero and one of his students, Ana HeRay and was taken to my hotel. On the ride to the hotel, I was informed that I would be the first speaker and that I should be prepared for around 100 participants. Once at the hotel I was able to put my finishing touches on the presentation for the next morning.
The next day, Ana picked me up to take me to the University. Once there, I was given a tour of the exhibit hall which included approximately 15 vendors from various aspects of the health field including such companies as Arthrex and Stryker. Dr. Caballero personally introduced me to the representatives from each of these companies. I quickly realized that the entire conference was student driven and on a very high level! I was incredibly impressed by the professionalism of the student workers and by the overall feel of the conference.
It was then off to get prepared for the opening ceremonies and the presentation at 10:00 sharp. Some very influential people were in attendance including the president of the university and the Minster of Health for the county of Jalisco. The venue for the meeting was an outdoor gymnasium that held approximately 1,000 chairs. Five 40” LCD screens were positioned around the audience as the main projector was unfortunately not bright enough to show on the main screen. The presentation went very well and we had approximately 900 + attendees during the lecture which was amazing!
After lunch, Ana and another student by the name of Eduardo gave me a tour around the campus. I have a new appreciation for what the field of biomedical engineering means in Mexico and I am hopeful that a few of the students will be interested enough to consider the field of upper limb prosthetics as a career that they can bring to Mexico. We had a Gala dinner that evening which included lectures by Intel on their venture into Guadalajara.
The next day was full of more lectures (unfortunately in Spanish which did not bode well for this Texan!) as well as a repeat lecture from me to those students that were not able to attend the original lecture. It was then off to the airport for a quick flight back to Dallas.
I truly enjoyed my time in Guadalajara and was very impressed by the hospitality of the students and Dr. Caballero. I am looking forward to this becoming a common conference that we can be a part of in the future and hope that we can help influence the career choices of some of these students as they begin to understand the nature of prosthetics and how it relates to their degree. This was an excellent opportunity to showcase the philosophy of Advanced Arm Dynamics and I am grateful to Dr. Caballero for his invitation to participate in this event.
Rob Dodson, C.P.O., L.P.O.
Upper Extremity Specialist
Advanced Arm Dynamics
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