Current News

The Radiation and Environmental Biophysics open-access paper "The System of Radiological Protection and the UN Sustainable Development Goals" was published 10 September 2024 and is now available.

The 2015 United Nations' 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) encompass broad social, economic, and environmental challenges. This paper discusses the relationship between the current System of Radiological Protection and SDGs. Initially, it suggests an implicit link through analysis based on the International Commission on Radiological Protection's (ICRP) standards. It further advocates for explicit consideration of sustainability in the upcoming ICRP recommendations, encouraging global collaboration in radiological protection to enhance sustainability.

Click here to access "The System of Radiological Protection and the UN Sustainable Development Goals."

Health Physics Society (HPS) member Bill Dundulis died 23 August 2024. His obituary can be found on on the Menard Funeral Home website. An In Memoriam piece will be posted on the HPS website at a future date.

Health Physics Society (HPS) member Warren E. Keene died 20 August 2024. His obituary can be found on the National Cremation website. An In Memoriam piece will be posted on the HPS website at a future date.

The North Central Chapter of the Health Physics Society (HPS) will hold a joint fall meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, with the North Central Chapter of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM). The meeting will be held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on Friday, 8 November, and will include a social night out at The Coopers Tavern. Information can be found on the NCC website, and more details will be provided as they become available.

Click here to register for the meeting.

The 2024 American Academy of Health Physics (AAHP) and Health Physics Society (HPS) Salary Survey is currently underway until 31 October 2024. The objectives of the survey are to provide HPS members with appropriate information to determine relative market value and to assist in career planning with respect to prospective salary.

The survey is easy to complete and will only take a few minutes. Your confidential participation will benefit the entire membership. To participate in the 2024 AAHP/HPS Salary Survey, sign in to the Members Only side of the HPS website and then click here.

HPS Membership Committee

Did you sign up to become a Health Physics Society (HPS) member at the IRPA 16/69th HPS Annual Meeting in Orlando? If so, you received the discount offered in celebration of the first IRPA International Congress held in the United States in 51 years.

If not, there is still time to take advantage of the discount. Between now and 30 September 2024, non-HPS members new to the HPS can pay just $52 for an HPS membership lasting until 31 December 2025. Applications must be completed online. Click here to join.

We encourage you to share this offer with your non-HPS peers, counterparts, and professional contacts across your respective industries. Tell your friends and coworkers not to miss out on this limited-time opportunity!

If you have any questions, please contact Andrew Najjar.

Add the dates of the following Health Physics Society meetings to your calendar. Check the Meetings and Conferences page of the website for the most current information.

• 70th HPS Annual Meeting - 2025
  13–17 July 2025, Monona Terrace Convention Center, Madison, WI
  
  Hotel Reservations
  HPS has secured discounted room blocks at three hotels for Madison. Below are the links to secure discounted rooms.
  
  The Madison Concourse Hotel & Governor's Club
  1 W. Dayton St. | Madison, WI 53703
  Rate: 168/night + tax
  
  Hilton Madison Monona Terrace
  9 East Wilson Street | Madison, WI 53703
  Rate: $211/night + tax
  
  Embassy Suites by Hilton Madison Downtown
  231 S. Pinckney Street | Madison, WI 53703
  Rate: $169/night + tax
  
  Reserve your room before the block sells out!
   
• 71st HPS Annual Meeting - 2026
  5–9 July 2026, Gaylord National Harbor, MD

Wayne Glines, Health Physics News Contributing Editor

Deadline: Tuesday, 24 September

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine is seeking suggestions for experts to participate in the Gilbert W. Beebe Symposium on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) Applications in Radiation Therapy, Diagnostics, and Occupational Health and Safety (a two-day workshop).

Using these suggestions, National Academies staff will be looking to build a committee of five to six volunteer experts in addition to collecting information for potential speakers, participants, and peer reviewers for any publications resulting from the activity. Experts will be drawn from diverse areas, including:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Machine Learning
• Data Science
• Clinical Data Science
• Bioinformatics
• Radiation Therapy
• Radiation Diagnostics
• Radiation Occupational Health and Safety
• Radiation Risk Assessment and Management
• Environmental Management for Radioactive Waste Cleanup

For more information about the call for nominations, please view the event page. You are invited to submit your nominations by 24 September 2024 at 11:59 pm Eastern.

To learn more about the Gilbert W. Beebe Symposium, please click here. To learn more about the responsibilities and commitments of our volunteer committee members, visit the information web page.

If you have questions, please email nrsb@nas.edu.

HPS Web Operations

Did you know that the American Academy of Health Physics (AAHP) conducts an annual CHP Salary Survey and a Health Physics Society (HPS) Salary Survey?

The objectives of these surveys are to provide CHPs and HPS members with appropriate information to determine relative market value and to assist in career planning with respect to prospective salary.

When you complete the HPS Salary Survey, the information you provide is only collected to ensure that only HPS members take the survey, and do so only once. Your identity is not stored with your survey entry and is not revealed to the survey analysts. The only personal data that is revealed to the survey analysts is the name of the state in which you reside and your HPS membership classification. If you wish your state to be suppressed, an option exists on the survey form.

The results of the CHP Salary Survey and the HPS Salary Survey since 2012 can be found on the HPS website Careers in Health Physics page, at the bottom of the page.

There is still time for HPS members to take the 2024 survey. It will be underway until 31 October 2024, is easy to complete, and only takes a few minutes. Your confidential participation will benefit the entire membership. To participate in the 2024 AAHP/HPS Salary Survey, sign in to the Members Only side of the HPS website and then click here.

The September short course offerings have been posted on the Short Courses page of the HPS website. Information on the following courses is available:

Laser Safety Officer (LSO) Training—Kentek Corporation

Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) School and Refresher Class—RSO Services, Inc.

Facility Decommissioning Training Course—Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)

Site Characterization Online Training Course—ORAU's Professional Training Programs

Gamma Spectroscopy—ORAU's Professional Training Program

Health Physics Society (HPS) member Joel Ian Cehn died 29 July 2024. His obituary can be found on the Legacy.com website. An In Memoriam piece will be posted on the HPS website at a future date.

R. DeWayne Holcomb, Section President

NIR Section President-elect Dr. Ramona Gaza (left) and current section President R. DeWayne Holcomb (CHP, CLSO) admire the NIR Section poster displayed at IRPA 16/69th HPS Annual Meeting.
Photo courtesy of Ramona Gaza

The Nonionizing Radiation (NIR) Section was not able to meet at the IRPA 16/69th HPS Annual Meeting in July, but NIR members participated in presentations and poster sessions.

We are holding our annual NIR Section Business Meeting on 28 October at 1:00 pm EDT. We expect the meeting to last approximately two hours, and it will be conducted via teleconference/Zoom. The meeting is open to all NIR Section members, and the link will be provided to all NIR Section members via email.

New board member candidates will be presented for election and our new Section president, Dr. Ramona Gaza, will take the helm.

The direction of the NIR Section will be discussed during the meeting. Your voice and participation are important to guide the mission of the NIR Section.

The status of various NIR Section projects will be discussed, including:

• Potential Professional Development Series at the February winter meeting
  • Strong, high-impact professional training for the HP with an NIR role.
  • Hazard assessment training on RF, optical, UV, and lasers.
  • Your input can help us mold the content of the training.
• Website remake and content development—
  • What would NIR members like to see on the website?
  • Categories such as UV, RF, lasers, optical sources, magnetic fields, etc.
  • Content is being collected for publishing on the NIR Section web page.
  • NIR Section web page will be updated after the current HPS website makeover
• HPS Ask the Experts and FAQ on NIR topics
  • NIR Section Executive Board and others reviewing NIR-related questions

We will be providing an update on the meeting agenda and other details in the near future.

Thank you for your support of the NIR Section.

Brant Ulsh, CHP, PhD, Health Physics Editor in Chief

As we move from the hot summer to the fall, we here at the Health Physics Journal are preparing for our move to publishing content online only beginning in January 2025. To ensure your continued access to the most up-to-date research and innovative developments in the field of radiation safety, please take a moment now to sign in to the Health Physics Society (HPS) Members Only website using your HPS ID and password (if you don't know this info, there are links at the Members Only website to help you retrieve forgotten IDs and passwords—and if that doesn't work, reach out to Heide Rohland). Once you have reached the Members Only site, look for the "Resources for You" box, and the "Journal 1999–Present" button. Clicking that will take you to the Journal website and you will have full access as an HPS member. Be sure to follow the HPS and the Journal on your social media outlet of choice (links to do that are also on the Journal website). If you have any questions about how to continue to access the Journal electronically, please feel free to reach out to me.

Find the October 2024 issue of Health Physics here.

HPS Web Operations

Stephen Samson Mkoloma, left, accepts his book from HPS News Editor Mary Walchuk
Submitted photo

Stephen Samson Mkoloma from Dar es Salaam Tanzania won a copy of Fundamentals of Health Physics & Radiation Protection, by Philip C. Fulmer, at the HPS Publications Booth book drawing at the IRPA 16/69th HPS Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.

We gave away more than 50 great books and enjoyed meeting and talking with so many people about HPS publications and the HPS website!

Thank you to the authors, editors, and publishers who donated over $4,000 worth of books, including fiction and nonfiction, covering a wide range of topics.

If you saw a book that you would like, but didn't win, click on the links below for ordering information.

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer – Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin (available from Penguin Random House, ISBN 9780375726262)

An Introduction to Radiation Protection in Medicine – Edited by Jamie V. Trapp and Tomas Kron (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN 9781584889649)

The Atomic City Girls – Janet Beard (available from HarperCollinsPublishers, ISBN: 9780062666710)

At Work in the Atomic City: A Labor and Social History of Oak Ridge, Tennessee – Russell B. Olwell (available from The University of Tennessee Press, ISBN 13: 978-1-57233-644-5, ISBN 10: 1-57233-644-7)

City Behind a Fence: Oak Ridge, Tennessee 1942–1946 – Charles W. Johnson and Charles O. Jackson (available from The University of Tennessee Press, ISBN: 978-0-87049-309-6)

Critical Connections: The University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge from the Dawn of the Atomic Age to the Present – Lee Riedinger, Al Ekkebus, Ray Smith, and William Bugg (available from The University of Tennessee Press, ISBN 13: 978-1621906544, ISBN 10: 162190654X)

Dead Hot – M.K. Coker (available from Amazon, ISBN-10: 1545120609, ISBN-13: ‎978-1545120606)

Decommissioning Health Physics: A Handbook for MARRSIM Users, Second Edition – Eric W. Abelquist (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN: 9780367867133)

Environmental Health, Fourth Edition – Dade W. Moeller (available from Harvard University Press, ISBN: 9780674047402)

Fundamentals of Health Physics & Radiation Protection – Dr. Philip C. Fulmer (available from Amazon, ISBN-13: ‎979-8989597901)

The Girls of Atomic City – Denise Kernan (available from Simon & Schuster, ISBN: 978-1-4516-1752-8)

The Health Physics Solutions Manual, Third Edition – Thomas E. Johnson (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169051, ISBN-13: 978-1929169054)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – Rebecca Skloot (available from Penguin Random House, ISBN 978-1-4000-5218-9)

Khan’s The Physics of Radiation Therapy, Sixth Edition – John P. Gibbons (available from Wolters Kluwer, ISBN: 9781496397522)

Laser Safety Management – Ken Barat (available from CRC Press, ISBN 9780824723071)

Low Dose Radiation: The History of the U.S. Department of Energy Research Program – Antone L. Brooks (available from WSU Press, ISBN: 978-0-87422-354-5)

Nuclear Medicine Physics: A Handbook for Teachers and Students – D.L. Bailey, J.L. Humm, A. Todd-Pokropek, and A. van Aswegen (available from International Atomic Energy Agency, ISBN: 978-92-0-143810-2)

Principles of Nuclear Radiation Detection – Geoffrey G. Eichholz and John W. Poston (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN: 9781315895970)

Quantitative Environmental Risk Analysis for Human Health, Second Edition – Robert A. Fjeld, Timothy A. DeVol, and Nicole E. Martinez (available from Wiley, ISBN: 978-1-119-67532-7)

Radiation Answers: Answers to Your Questions About Radiation and You – Health Physics Society (out of print, ISBN: 978-0-9825161-0-2)

Radiation Protection: The Essential Guide for Technologists, Second Edition – Thomas E. Johnson (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169-16-0, ISBN-13: 978-1929169160)

Radiation Protection: The Essential Workbook for Technologists – Thomas E. Johnson (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169078, ISBN-13: 978-1929169078)

Radiation Protection: Solutions Manual – David J. Dolan and Thomas E. Johnson (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169153, ISBN-13: 978-1929169153)

Radiation Protection: The Essential Guide for Canadian Technologists – Thomas E. Johnson and Francis E. Tourneur (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169-17-7, ISBN-13: 978-1929169-17-7)

Radiation Protection: The Essential Workbook for Canadian Technologists – Thomas E. Johnson and Francis E. Tourneur (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169-21-4, ISBN-13: 978-1929169-21-4)

Radiation Protection: Canadian Solutions Manual – David J. Dolan, Francis E. Tourneur, and Thomas E. Johnson (available from Pastime Publications, ISBN-10: 1929169-18-4, ISBN-13: 978-1929169-18-4)

Radiation Protection in Medical Imaging and Radiation Oncology – Edited by Richard J. Vetter and Magdalena S. Stoeva (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN: 978-0-367-57521-2)

Radiation Risks in Perspective – Kenneth L. Mossman (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN: 9780367453435)

Radioactive Air Sampling Methods – Edited by Mark L. Maiello and Mark D. Hoover (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN: 9780849397172)

Radiobiology for the Radiologist, Eighth Edition – Eric J. Hall and Amato J. Giaccia (available from Wolters Kluwer, ISBN-13: 978-1-4963-3541-8, ISBN-10: 1-4963-3541-4)

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women – Kate Moore (available from Sourcebooks, ISBN: 978-1-4926-5095-9)

Silent Source – Jim Smith (available from Amazon, ISBN: 978-1939398703)

Understanding Radiation Science: Basic Nuclear and Health Physics – James Mannie Shuler (available from Universal Publishers, ISBN: 1-58112-907-6)

X-Ray Imaging: Fundamentals, Industrial Techniques and Applications – Harry E. Martz, Jr., Clint M. Logan, Daniel J. Schneberk, and Peter J. Shull (available from Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, ISBN: 9780849397721)

Charles Wilson and Emily Caffrey

The largest Health Physics Society (HPS) meeting in years just wrapped up. When new challenges occur, we have the opportunity to grow stronger. The HPS Program Committee tried several new things during the IRPA 16/69th HPS Annual Meeting and we are eager to get feedback from the rest of the community. A few specific highlights include:

1. CELs at 7:45 am and the technical program at 9:00 am.
2. Blind peer reviews of all abstracts.
3. Scheduled Q&A at the end of sessions.
4. More 20-minute talks.
5. Plenary Panel Discussions.

CELs (refresher courses) had a much higher attendance than usual. It seems like attendees appreciated the extra hour of sleep or being able to visit with colleagues a little later.

Our new program-management software includes the ability to digitally send out abstracts for blind review and ratings. For many reasons, we believe this will drastically improve the quality of the program. If you'd like to be a peer reviewer, please reach out to HPSPCannual@hps.org right after the abstract deadlines.

There were also challenges that we struggled with and hope to omit in the future. These included app duplication bugs, lack of Wi-Fi, visa complications, and a printed program. While not all of these are within our control, we can better prepare and organize for them. We plan to change the format of the printed program to include program at a glance, exhibitors, and notes only. This will increase our flexibility to respond to program changes after printing.

Do you have feedback on the meeting or recommendations for improvement? Reach out to us at HPSPCannual@hps.org!