History

The European Centre for Medical Informatics, Statistics and Epidemiology (EuroMISE Centre) was established on April 12^th, 1994 as a joint workplace of Charles University in Prague and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic with the support of European Union projects. Within Charles University in Prague the Centre initiated its activities in the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics and within the Academy of Sciences CR in the Institute of Computes Science AS CR . The EuroMISE Centre was ceremonially opened at the occasion of the International Working Conference “Education and Research in Medical Informatics” in the Institute of Computer Science AS CR on June 1^st (on the photo), 1994, see the picture. During the years 1994-2004 the activities of the EuroMISE Centre were significantly supported by several European grants and during the years 2000-2004 by the national programme of research centres by the LN00B107 project of the Ministry of Education CR. This support enabled extending interdisciplinary cooperation of the EuroMISE Centre by three more institutions, University of Economics in Prague , General University Hospital in Prague and Municipal Hospital in Čáslav.

The EuroMISE Centre, as a joint workplace, has no legal identity and in official acting it is represented by the Institute of Computer Science AS CR. The Centre gains financial resources for research and development, education, teaching and other professional activities from various projects and grants, from sponsorship and from own professional activities. People from the Institute of Computer Science AS CR participating in the interdisciplinary cooperation of the EuroMISE Centra are workers from the Department of Medical Informatics.

Since the beginning the activities of the EuroMISE Centre are based on interdisciplinary cooperation of computer scientists, statistics and physicians in the field of education and research. On the national level the EuroMISE Centre cooperates with many other faculties of Charles University in Prague, especially with the First Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Science, and with other institutes of the Academy of Sciences CR, especially with the Institute of Information Theory and Automation, the Institute of Experimental Medicine, the Institute of Molecular Genetics. The Centre cooperates closely with hospitals, research institutes and other universities and professional societies, e.g. General University Hospital in Prague, Municipal Hospital in Čáslav, Central Military Hospital in Prague, Institute of Rheumatology, Institute for the Care of Mother and Child, University of Economics in Prague, Czech Technical University in Prague, Society for Biomedical Engineering and Medical Informatics of the Czech Medical Society of J. E. Purkyně, Czech Society for Cybernetics and Informatics, and Czech Statistical Society. On the international level the EuroMISE Centre cooperates with universities and research institutes from Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denmark, France, Croatia, Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Austria, Rumania, Greece, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Great Britain and with international societies, e.g. IMIA, EFMI, ISCB, and EHTEL.

The EuroMISE Centre by its activities gradually created a new field of biomedical informatics in CR. In the year 2001 the cooperation of the Department of Medical Informatics, Institute of Computer Science AS CR and the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague within the EuroMISE Centre led to the establishment of a new scientific board of “Biomedical Informatics” in the system of postgradual doctoral study of biomedicine. Since March 1^st, 2006 the position of the field of biomedical informatics has been strengthened by foundation of the “Centre for Biomedical Informatics” (CBI) within the research centres programme of the Ministry of Education CR.