Philips Healthcare today announced the establishment of a new development center in Israel. The center will focus on image processing and analysis, and conduct long-term research in the field as well develop applications for contemporary markets, such as virtual colonoscopy and virtual catheterization applications
The new center will employ scores of scientists, image processing technicians, and software and clinical engineers, who will be responsible for adapting developments to medical needs.
Philips Healthcare Israel said, "The decision by Philips is a breakthrough that is based on the outstanding medical achievements and developments by Philips' employees in Haifa."
Philips Healthcare Israel currently has 600 employees in Haifa. The center specializes in 3D CT scanners.
The announcement about the establishment of the new development center was during a visit by President Shimon Peres at Philips Healthcare Israel's Haifa center. Philips VP and CEO Applied Clinical Division Yair Briman was also present. Peres told the employees, "What I saw during my tour at Philips is greater than any of my dreams. You are developing the world's state-of-the-art medical instruments in Israel. This is an amazing experience for me to identify with great research, the values of excellence, and real breakthroughs."
In recent years, Philips Healthcare Israel has taken over the responsibility for advanced work stations at Philips, including their hardware and specialized applications. These applications are developed at several Philips Healthcare centers around the world, including in the US, the Netherlands, and India, and are overseen by Briman from Haifa.
Briman told "Globes", "The field is especially important for Philips, because we've taken over responsibility for all the applications that take pictures from all imaging technologies, whether CT, MRI, ultrasound, or nuclear medicine. We also interface images from imaging devices of other organizations.
"In this field, you must constantly move forward, and Haifa is the place where Philips chose to develop the future applications in this field. We intend to reach places which can only be dreamed about. For example, integrating images from different sources. Imaging combining the image of the heart structure from an MRI with the image of a heart's movement from an ultrasound. Today, a doctor has to build the combined image in his head, and he can't always do it. With this technology, we can see many things that we could not see in the past, and dramatically affect treatment."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 12, 2012
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