Journal Article
The biomedical engineer’s pledge: overview and context
Antoni Ivorra; Txetxu Ausín; Laura Becerra-Fajardo; Antonio J. del Ama; Jesús Minguillón; Aracelys García-Moreno; Jordi Aguiló; Filipe Oliveira Barroso; Bart Bijnens; Oscar Camara; Sara Capdevila; Roger Castellanos Fernandez; Rafael V. Davalos; Jean-Louis Divoux; Ahmed Eladly; Dario Farina; Carla García Hombravella; Raquel González López; Cesar A. Gonzalez; Jordi Grífols; Felipe Maglietti; Shahid Malik; Elad Maor; Guillermo Marshall; Berta Mateu Yus; Lluis M. Mir; Juan C. Moreno; Xavier Navarro; Núria Noguera; Andrés Ozaita; Gemma Piella; José L. Pons; Rita Quesada; Pilar Rivera-Gil; Boris Rubinsky; Aurelio Ruiz Garcia; Albert Ruiz-Vargas; Maria Sánchez Sánchez; Andreas Schneider-Ickert; Ting Shu; Rosa Villa Sanz; Bing Zhang; Gema Revuelta
Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing · Vol. 64, Issue 1 · pp. 1-8 · 2026
Abstract
Although biomedical engineering (BME) is a profession with ethical responsibilities comparable to those in medicine, it has, until now, lacked a counterpart to the Hippocratic Oath. While professional societies have established codes of ethics for biomedical engineers, these documents lack the symbolic and ceremonial significance of an oath or pledge. By contrast, the recitation of the Hippocratic Oath, or its modern version, the “Physician’s Pledge,” serves as a powerful rite of passage for medical students, fostering a strong sense of ethical duty at the start of their professional journey. However, the content of the Hippocratic Oath includes elements specific to clinical practice and is not directly applicable to biomedical engineering. To fill this gap, we have created a “Biomedical Engineer’s Pledge,” comprising a preamble, ten promises, and a concluding statement, to inspire ethical awareness and establish a meaningful graduation tradition. Graphical abstract