The Past President's Message

The agenda for the 2008 midyear meeting of the Health Physics Society (HPS) is progressing rapidly. Several world-renowned speakers have agreed to present either at the plenary session or to act as keynote speakers for the meeting sessions. In addition, we have obtained a full agenda of experts to present the professional enrichment programs (PEPs) and continuing education lectures (CELs). Here's a sneak preview of the planned agenda.

2008 HPS Midyear Meeting, "Radiation-Generating Devices"

Final Meeting Agenda

Plenary Session 1/27/08

• 8:00 AM, January 27, 2008 Introductory Remarks: Kevin Nelson: President of the Health Physics Society
• Political Speaker: Mayor of Oakland, the honorable Mayor Ron Dellums
• "The Three B's: Before, Berkeley, and Beyond," Ralph Thomas (University of California, Retired)
• "Particle Accelerations in Radiation Therapy: The New Wave," Nisy Ipe (Consultant in Shielding Design, Dosimetry and Radiation Protection)
• "Health Physics Needs for Accelerator Based Homeland Security Cargo Imaging Systems," Leslie Braby (Texas A&M University)
• "Recent Radiation Safety Advances at R&D Accelerators and Future Needs," Sayed Rokni and James Liu (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center)
• "Ion Implantation for Fabrication of Semiconductor Materials and Devices," Michael Current

American Academy of Health Physics (AAHP) Classes

• "Homeland Security and Responses to Radiological Emergencies-a Primer for Health Physicists," Ken Groves (President, S2-Sevorg Services, LLC; formerly US Department of Energy [DOE] Radiological Assistance Program Region 4 Training and Outreach Coordinator)
• "Auditing Industrial Radiography and X-ray Facilities – How to Prepare for Inspections," Ray Johnson (Vice President of Training Programs, Dade Moeller & Associates; formerly Director of Radiation Safety Academy)

PEP Classes

• "Neutron Spectroscopy Techniques," Nolan Hertel (Georgia Tech)
• "Operational Accelerator Health Physics I and II," L. Scott Walker (LANSCE Accelerator, Los Alamos National Laboratory)
• "The Health Physics of Imaging the Public for Homeland Security,” Frank Cera (NIST)
• "Accelerator Interlock Systems," Kelly Mahoney (Thomas Jefferson Laboratory)
• "Review of Current CT Technology and CT Dosimetry in Modern CT Scanners," Dr. Terry Yoshizumi (Duke University)
• "Oncology Medical Physics," Zhiheng Wang (Duke University)
• "The Health Physics of PET Radionuclide Production," Roger Moroney (Siemens)
• "The Introduction to the EGS Shielding Code," Ralph Nelson (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Retired)

CEL Classes

• "Environmental Measurements at Radiation-Generating Device Facilities," Sam Baker (Argonne National Laboratory)
• "Medical Facility Health Physics Measurements," Nisy Ipe (Consultant in Shielding Design, Dosimetry and Radiation Protection)
• "ANSI N43.1 Radiation Safety for the Design and Operation of Particle Accelerators," James Liu and Scott Walker (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center and Los Alamos National Laboratory)
• "Shielding Evaluation at Diagnostic X-ray & PET-CT Facilities," Melissa C. Martin (Therapy Physics, Inc.)

Meeting Sessions

We have 126 submitted abstracts. The meeting content will mandate two and sometimes three different sessions at once. Sessions include the following.

• The Health Physics Challenges of New Accelerator Initiatives and Radiation-Generating Devices.
  • Keynote Speaker: Thomas Otto (CERN), "Health Physics Challenges of New Accelerator Initiatives"
• Shielding and Shield Codes
  • Keynote Speaker: Nikolai Mokhov (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory), "Challenges, Advances and Future Needs in Shielding Code Developments"
• Operational Health Physics: Keynote Speaker
  • Steve Fry (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center), "Operational Health Physics Session Welcome"
• Environmental Issues at Radiation-Generating Devices
  • Keynote Speaker: Pavel Degtiarenko (Thomas Jefferson Laboratory)
• Medical Therapy and Imaging
  • Keynote Speaker: Fred Mettler (University Of New Mexico), "Medical Radiation Exposure in the United States: 2006"
• Homeland Security Human and Cargo Imaging
  • Keynote Speaker: Chris Morris (Los Alamos National Laboratory), "Tomographic Imaging with Cosmic Ray Muons"
• Radiation Detection Instrumentation, Selection, and Calibration
  • Keynote Speaker: Tom Mclean (Los Alamos National Laboratory), "Field Evaluation of a Portable High-Energy Neutron (En>20 MeV) Dose Meter"
• Radiation Spectroscopy
  • Keynote Speaker: Takashi Nakamura, "Challenges and Advances in Neutron Spectroscopy"
• Interlocks and Safety Systems
  • Keynote Speaker: John Anderson (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory), "Accelerator Safety Interlock Systems - Past, Present and Future"
• Dosimetry (Worker, Public, and Equipment)
  • Keynote Speaker: Nolan Hertel (Georgia Tech), "Accelerator Dosimetry: Past, Present, and Future Needs"
• Regulatory Legal and Public Concerns
  • Keynote Speaker: Ruth McBurney (Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors), "Regulation of Radiation Generating Devices: Challenges and Approaches for State Radiation Control Programs"
• Industrial Radiation-Generating Machine Health Physics
  • Keynote Speaker: Frederic Stichelbaut (IBA), "Design of High Performance X-Ray Irradiation Systems"
• The Health Physics of Research Facilities
  • Keynote Speaker: Robert May (Thomas Jefferson Lab Laboratory), "The Morphology of a Research Accelerator"