BME

Story of Biomedical Engineer

Biomedical Engineering
Name: Imad ud din
Year: Class of 2017
Hometown: Chitral pakistan
Major: Biomedical Engineering

Hello Everyone!  I get the privilege of detailing the ins and outs of the most infamous major here at Riphah islamabad:  Biomedical Engineering.  The mere mention of this phrase, or its more commonly referred to acronym BME, without fail will elicit a response from your audience.  Whether it’s a facial cringe, a bulging of the eyes, a puzzled inquiry, or a snicker of laughter, it seems like everyone in the world has some opinion about our wonderful department.  It is my goal to provide you the most accurate description of  RIPHAH Biomedical Engineering in PAKISTAN has ever seen; no myths, no sugar-coating
First things first, what in the world does a biomedical engineer actually do and why would anyone in their right mind commit to what appears on the surface to be such a grueling endeavor?  Biomedical engineering in the broadest sense is the application of engineering principles to medicine.  Biomedical engineers develop new imaging techniques to be used in the operating room, design modeling software to predict how an individual will respond to certain drug therapies, create implantable prosthetics or devices for the ailing or injured, etc.  While it may be tough to see yourself doing these things right out of high school, believe me when I say you will be given the tools and experiences to contribute to the development of ideas along these lines once you have put in the time in BME. On a side note I would like to mention that BME IS NOT A GLORIFIED PRE-MEDICAL MECCA WHERE YOU BASK IN THE SUNLIGHT ALL DAY DRINKING PIÑA COLADAS ON “THE BEACH.”  While it is true that nearly a quarter of each BME class goes on to medical school, myself included, you will be committing yourself to four years of pure pain and torture if your sole purpose is to better prepare yourself for medical school.  You need to love mathematics and the idea of research, because that is what the core of our program is centered on.
Now before I go into the ins and outs of our program and how I came to my chosen career path, I would like to mention how I knew that BME was what I wanted to pursue in college.  In high school I loved science and was adept at math.  I knew that I wanted to be an engineer because I have always needed to understand how and why things work, especially when it comes to the human body.  The concept of wanting to know why is the crux of all engineering disciplines.  If you are just content knowing that something will work, then engineering is probably not for you.  Luckily for me, Riphah islamabad had the biomedical engineering major that appeared to combine my medical interest with my lust for understanding how the world works.  While I had heard stories about how difficult the major was, this did not deter me as I felt like I was up for the challenge.  Ultimately, fate smiled upon me and I got accepted into the program and will never looke back.  I love the idea of BME, the wealth of information that we learn, and all of the challenges as well as the opportunities we face.
As a BME major, you should have taken as much science and math, preferably at the highest level your school offers, as possible so that you will be prepared to step right into the major and be successful.  As an undergraduate in the major, you are required to take introductory physics, chemistry, and organic chemistry as well as the associated labs.  You are also required to take mathematics courses up through and including differential equations in addition to probability and statistics.  This is not to say that your introduction to mathematics ends there.  You will learn to love Fourier and Laplace Transforms as they are necessary to most of your core BME classes.  They are the main tools engineers use to manipulate data and to design complicated feedback mechanisms (if that last paragraph sounded like complete gibberish to you that’s fine, it would have sounded the same way to me too when I was in high school but these are just some of the awesome things you get to look forward to!)  Every student that is part of the BME program must be on a design team as freshmen, and essentially now with the new requirements, junior or senior year as well.  As freshmen, students will work in groups of six doing smaller projects to get introduced to what engineers do for the first semester.  Then, they are drafted by seniors who have been working on a project for that first semester that a doctor or engineering professional has sponsored aimed at a specific clinical need. 
Research is another huge part of BME life and I can say without hesitation that nearly everyone works in a lab at one point or another while an undergrad in BME.
Biomedical engineering is responsible for many of the dramatic advances in modern medicine. This has resulted in improved medical care and better quality of life for patients. However, biomedical technology has also contributed to new ethical dilemmas and has challenged some of our moral values. Bioengineers often lack adequate training in facing these moral and ethical problems. These include conflicts of interest, allocation of scarce resources, research misconduct, animal experimentation, and clinical trials for new medical devices. This paper is a compilation of our previous published papers on these topics, and it summarizes many complex ethical issues that a bioengineer may face during his or her research career or professional practice. The need for ethics training in the education of a bioengineering student is emphasized. We also advocate the adoption of a code of ethics for bioengineers.
Menu
Scope of BME
I may be nobody to speak about the scope of this ever green industry in Pakistan. Being still an undergraduate student, I may not be able to throw light on all the possible career options as a Bio-Medical Engineer in Pakistan but you will get to read about what I have researched so far.



Possible Career Opportunities for a Bio-Medical Engineer in Pakistan


Teacher:


Teachers are the basic need of Colleges and Universities that have started or intending to start Bio-Medical Engineering as an Academic Course. In my view, this is the most respectful job that you can do being a Bio-Medical Engineer in Pakistan. Bio-Medical Engineering Department of RIPHAH islamabad has been blessed with great and experienced teachers. Most of the Teachers are young so they understand the requirements of undergraduate students very well.


Salary: You get a decent salary being a Teacher in Bio-Medical Department. Normally, salary ranges from 50,000 PKR – 100,000 PKR. If you are an experienced Teacher or a Professor then you may be earning in 6 figures as well.


Service Engineer:


Normally, when a person enrolls in an Engineering Program, he thinks of nothing but providing his services as an Engineer after completing his Degree Program. You can provide your Services as a service Engineer in a Hospital, Laboratory, Research Lab (you may want to exclude this option because there is not much research work in Pakistan yet), a Firm/ Company. Most of the services that you will be providing will be about assembling, installing, repairing and maintaining Bio-Medical Machines and Instruments. There is no Production or Manufacturing of Bio-Medical Equipment, Machines and Instruments in Pakistan at a larger commercial level so you will not be designing and producing new machines.


Salary: Unfortunately, most of the service Engineers in Pakistan are not getting good salaries. Normally, salary ranges from 25,000 PKR – 80,000 PKR. If you are a fresh graduate then many companies will try to hire you at probation period for 5-6 months (There will be no or very low salary in this case).


Sales Engineer:


Finally, you are left to do something that is normally not in the nature of an Engineer. Most of the graduates of Bio-Medical Engineering are doing sales jobs. While in University, we are not trained to sell anything but when you move into the industry, you will be selling Medical Devices, Instruments and Machines. You can get an added advantage by providing technical services as well if you know how to repair the machine that you are selling.


Salary: You cannot guess the salary of a Sales Person. Most of the fresh graduates who are doing this job are earning 20,000 PKR – 60,000 PKR. However, you grow in sales field with the passage of time. So, if you will make you career in Sales as a Bio-Medical Engineer then you may find yourself earning 6 figures someday.
Well, if you guys have  survived reading my chit-chatting this long then you will definitely be able to survive BME no sweat!  But seriously, it is an awesome program .Although Biomedical Engineering is a challenging major, it allows you to have very rewarding opportunities upon completion.  You can have the ability to directly see how your career impacts people's lives.  The satisfaction of helping people makes this degree rewarding and desirable.

Thanks for reading and if you have any questions feel free _

03425991203
Imadbaig234@gmail.Com
[Fb] [inst] [Twitter]  @Emadbaaig