PHILADELPHIA -- The University of Pennsylvania Department of Bioengineering and Drexel University will host the annual Fall Meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society.  The meeting, being held Oct. 13-16 in Philadelphia, focuses on the latest scientific, technical and ethical information from all areas of biomedical engineering.  

The meeting will be at the Wyndahm Franklin Hotel at Franklin Plaza, 17th and Race streets. Members of the news media are invited, and a full listing of speakers and topics can be found at www.seas.upenn.edu/be/bmes2004/.

Keynote speakers include W. Mark Saltzman of Yale University, Arthur Caplan of Penn Center for Bioethics, and P. Roy Vagelos, former chair and CEO of Merck & Co. Inc., as well as other recognized experts in the field.  

In the 2004 Distinguished Lecture on Oct. 14 at 9 a.m., Saltzman will discuss drug treatments for cancer, neurodegenerative and infectious diseases and how these treatments can be effectively delivered.  

On Oct. 14 at 10 a.m., Caplan plenary lecture, "Is It Wrong to Engineer Our Brains?" will discuss medical ethics and the limits of bioengineering.  

On Oct. 15 at 9 a.m., Vagelos, former chair of the Penn Board of Trustees, will discuss the challenges of the modern biopharmaceutical industry and how biomedical engineering can make an impact in this discipline.  

Medtronic Inc. and Merck & Co. Inc. have provided financial support for speakers and other aspects of the conference.  

Additional information on the Biomedical Engineering Society is available at http://www.bmes.org/.