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2012 Advisory Committee Meeting

Friday and Saturday, September 7-8

 

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The 2012 annual Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting was a huge success! It was the first in-person meeting since 2009, and everyone agreed that this opportunity to discuss the current research and goals of the USTUR was extremely beneficial.

In attendance were the USTUR staff, SAC members, Department of Energy (DOE) representative, WSU College of Pharmacy Associate Dean of Graduate Education and Scholarship, a donor family representative, scientific collaborators, and invited guests from the scientific community. Each participant brought a unique perspective that resulted in fruitful discussions.

Meeting Summary

Day 1 (Friday):
USTUR faculty and staff described the USTUR’s progress and achievements since the last meeting in July 2011. Topics included: Registrant statistics, entry of exposure records into the health physics database, inventory of stored tissues and acid solutions, and radiochemical analyses. In the afternoon, three presentations were given by invited speakers:

  • Dr. William Morgan discussed the value of the USTUR/PNNL Low Dose Program collaboration.
  • Dr. Paul Stansbury described the Certificate Program in Radiation Protection that WSU is developing.
  • The family representative, a donor’s son, shared his commendations and concerns about the USTUR program. His presentation sparked a fruitful discussion about ways that the USTUR can better communicate with Registrants and their next-of-kin.

Day 2 (Saturday):
Dr. Herman Gibb summarized a PMR and PCMR analysis of radiation and mesothelioma among the USTUR’s Registrants, which will soon be published in the American Journal of Public Health. After the morning break, the SAC conducted a closed executive session. They summarized their discussion in a series of Comments and Recommendations, which were presented to the USTUR staff after lunch. This feedback was intended to guide the USTUR’s activities during the coming year. The meeting was wrapped up with a tour of the USTUR’s laboratory. Most of the SAC members had not seen the laboratory since the last in-person meeting in 2009. At that time, only the autopsy facility was fully functional.

(LEFT) During the laboratory tour, Dick Toohey, Joey Zhou, and Bob Bistline identify familiar faces in a photograph from the 1966 “Plutonium Contamination in Man” meeting. Dr. Bistline was one of the attendees. (RIGHT) The photograph from the 1966 meeting. The idea to form a national plutonium registry was first conceived at this meeting. The National Plutonium Registry was formed in 1968. Two years later, its name was changed to the U.S. Transuranium Registry.
SAC Membership

William Hayes’ second 3-year term on the advisory committee was due to expire on September 30, 2012. He chose to continue his service on the SAC for another three-year term; however, he stepped down as chair. Dr. Richard Toohey was chosen to be the new SAC chair.

Photographed at the top of the page are five of six SAC members, and the DOE representative: William Hayes (SAC), Herman Gibb (SAC), Kathryn Meier (SAC), Robert Bistline (SAC), Richard Toohey (SAC), and Joey Zhou (DOE).