The MICCAI Society recognizes members who have made substantial scientific contributions to the field of medical image computing and computer assisted intervention and who have also made significant contributions of service to the MICCAI Society. Since 2009, the MICCAI Society has bestowed this honour upon 54 exceptional leaders. We are very proud and thankful for their contributions and support and are pleased to highlight them in this and future issues of the MICCAI Quarterly newsletter.

Meet Josien Pluim, MICCAI Fellow 2017

Josien Pluim is professor of Medical Image Analysis at Eindhoven University of Technology, and head of the Medical Image Analysis group. In addition, she holds a part-time professorship at the University Medical Center Utrecht and is vice-dean for the Department of Biomedical Engineering at TU/e. Her research focus is on image analysis (e.g. registration, segmentation, detection, machine/deep learning), both methodology development and clinical applications. The latter, in particular, is targeted at neurology and oncology.

Josien has co-authored more than 250 peer-reviewed scientific papers and is or has been an associate editor of five journals (IEEE TMI, IEEE TBME, Medical Physics, Journal of Medical Imaging and Medical Image Analysis).

She has served as a member of the Executive Board of the MICCAI Society, as conference chair of SPIE Medical Imaging Image Processing 2006-2009, chair of WBIR 2006 and programme co-chair of MICCAI 2010. She is a fellow of the MICCAI Society and an IEEE Fellow.
(Source: Eindhoven University of Technology)

In 2017, Josien Pluim was recognized as a Fellow of the MICCAI Society for her outstanding contributions to medical image computing and for distinguished service to the MICCAI Society.

We are grateful for Josien’s significant support and asked her to share some details about her experiences with the MICCAI Society.

Q: You’ve been a member of the MICCAI Society for many years. When did you first become involved?

A: I attended my first MICCAI conference in Cambridge, UK, in 1999. But my first contribution to MICCAI (other than attending and presenting my research) was for the MICCAI 2001 conference in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Back then, the conference was far smaller, and the organization was fully arranged by a research lab, without a professional organization. At the time, I was a PhD student and a member of the organizing committee. My main responsibility was to program the online paper submission and review system, together with a fellow PhD student. The year before the conference was a busy one, with the submission deadline of the conference coinciding with the submission deadline of my PhD thesis!

Q: The MICCAI community has benefitted greatly from your leadership and volunteer efforts. In what ways have you been involved? 

A: Most notably as a Board Member. I was on the Board from 2013 to 2020; first as a regular member and the later years on the Executive Committee as Secretary. I have also helped to organize many of the MICCAI conferences including as Co-chair of MICCAI 2010 as well as Public Lectures Chair at MICCAI 2018, Co-organizer of various challenges: EMPIRE10, AMIDA13, GLaS15, and TUPAC 2016 and as Co-organizer of a tutorial at MICCAI 2009.

And, of course, as a reviewer and an area chair, but that is simply expected of any (more senior) attendee.

Q: The MICCAI Society and conferences have changed considerably since the first conference in 1998. What changes have you seen in the time that you've been a member?

A: The Society has grown into a mature organization that serves a large community. Although the first meetings had their own charm, being much smaller in size, the meetings nowadays are enjoyed by a far larger group and offer the attendants more in addition to the core conference. Moreover, the society has extended its activities over the years and supports the research community beyond the annual conference.It offers a great opportunity to see the latest developments in the field and meet people in our field.