Medical Engineering Faculty Symposium Hosted by Khatam University

According to the Public Relations and Website Office of Khatam University, the second medical engineering faculty symposium was organized by the Department of Medical Engineering (Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering) at Khatam University and took place in the Imam Reza Conference Hall.

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Mohammadreza Nourani, a professor at the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Research Center of Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, expressed his gratitude to Khatam University’s Department of Medical Engineering for hosting the event. He stated that the purpose of such gatherings is to provide a platform for medical engineering professors to exchange ideas for joint research activities and to strengthen professional solidarity among medical engineering graduates regarding labor market issues in this field.

Subsequently, Dr. Hamid Mirzadeh, Head of the Department of Medical Engineering at Khatam University, highlighted the global standing of fields such as tissue engineering and regenerative medicine and how many scientific branches utilize their services. He noted that medical engineering is an emerging discipline that, with the help of other sciences, can effectively resolve many complex and critical problems facing human society.

Stating that medical engineering is essentially a puzzle composed of multiple disciplines and an interdisciplinary field situated at the intersection of engineering, biology, and medicine, he added: “The global medical engineering market is valued at approximately $40 billion with an annual growth rate of 13 percent, and currently over 20 countries worldwide have national regenerative medicine programs.”

Mirzadeh also touched upon Iran’s standing in medical engineering—both in conducting research and publishing scientific papers, as well as in producing technological products and innovations. He stated: “Between 2011 and 2026, a total of 2,534 Iranian articles in the field of tissue engineering were published globally, placing our country 18th in world rankings for medical engineering publications, putting us in the top tier, so to speak. Furthermore, in the field of biomaterials, we hold the 1st place in the Middle East and the 9th in the world. In bioengineering, our country ranks 12th globally.”

The Head of the Department of Medical Engineering at Khatam University also spoke about the target set in the country’s Seventh National Development Plan to achieve a 2 percent share of the global medical engineering market value. At the same time, he emphasized: “Of course, Iran does not yet hold even 1 percent of the global medical engineering market, and most capacities are concentrated in polymer scaffolds and certain laboratory consumables.”

Stating that there are currently 92 officially licensed companies manufacturing medical engineering products and operating in this sector, he listed the country’s key achievements in medical engineering. He noted that the medical engineering program is offered at 24 universities, and out of 148 licensed ATMP (Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products) products worldwide, 7 belong to Iran. Nevertheless, Iran ranks 81st out of 139 countries in technology, which indicates that despite the remarkable speed of scientific paper production in this field within the country, we lag behind in converting knowledge into technology, and indeed a gap exists between research and technology in medical engineering.

Mirzadeh listed intellectual property and commercialization deficits, challenges in the cell and tissue supply chain industry, the absence of national standards, sustainable funding shortages, and the university-industry divide as key challenges in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Meanwhile, he noted that expanding the national tissue bank network, formulating national standards, establishing a specialized investment fund, and strengthening international collaborations would be effective in mitigating these issues.

During this symposium, held under the title “café TERM,” attendees also discussed the status of medical engineering in therapeutic processes, voiced complaints about insufficient attention given to this status in medical centers, emphasized the necessity of research aimed at futures studies in medical engineering, and stressed the strengthening of scientific associations in this field. It was decided that these meetings would continue with specific agendas.