Background
The study of Japanese atomic-bomb survivors, exposed briefly to radiation, finds the risk of radiation-induced lung cancer to be nearly three times greater for women than for men. Because protection standards for astronauts are based on individual lifetime risk projections, this sex-specific difference limits the time women can spend in space (NCRP Commentary 23, 2014). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) requested that NCRP evaluate the risk of radiation-induced lung cancer in populations exposed to chronic or fractionated radiation to learn whether similar differences exist when exposures occur gradually over years contrasted with the acute exposure received by the Japanese atomic-bomb survivors.
In response to NASA (and the funded grant, NASA16), NCRP:
- initiated an epidemiologic study of 170,000 medical radiation workers (half are women) within the Million Person Study (MPS);
- constituted SC 6-11 to provide guidance on the dosimetry for the study of medical radiation workers with a focus on the mean absorbed dose to the lung; and
- began evaluating other relevant epidemiologic studies within the MPS that included both men and women (e.g., Mound, nuclear power plant workers, industrial radiographers, TEC (1943 to 1947), Rocky Flats, Hanford, Savannah River, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, X-10, Y12, Fernald, and others with support from the funded U.S. Department of Energy (DOE17) grant.
Scope
To address these issues of sex-specific lung cancer risks and transfer and projection models, NCRP agreed to conduct new studies and analyses of cohorts within the MPS, in particular the study of 170,000 medical radiation workers, but also DOE workers. The medical worker study is ongoing and will be nearly complete within 1 y for evaluation by this committee. The medical worker study will also be viewed in the context of other studies of radiation-induced lung cancer when radiation dose is given gradually over time [e.g., other occupational groups within the MPS, as well as studies of tuberculosis patients, indoor radon, Mayak workers, and scoliosis patients (i.e., studies of reasonable quality with estimates of radiation-induced lung cancer)]. There will be an extensive and comprehensive review of all epidemiologic studies addressing sex-specific lung cancer differences. Animal experiments will be reviewed as well as mechanistic models.
Evaluation of the factors affecting transfer of risk modeling and incorporation within lifetime risk projection will be done, including analytic approaches. NCRP will evaluate the current risk projection model used by NASA for lung cancer life time risk projection and examine whether the new data on low dose rate exposures and sex-specific lung cancer risks will be such as to recommend modifications. Recommendations will be published after Council review as a commentary.
Goal
To prepare a commentary that evaluates sex-specific differences in lung cancer radiation risks and assesses their use in transfer models and lifetime risk projections, with accompanying recommendations for NASA.
Membership
![]() MICHAEL M. WEIL![]() is a professor in the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences at Colorado State University (CSU). His research, which takes advantage of murine models of radiation carcinogenesis and leukemogenesis, is focused on understanding how radiation exposure can lead to cancer and why some individuals may be more susceptible than others. At CSU, Dr. Weil teaches a graduate level course in cancer genetics and lectures in courses on cancer biology, environmental carcinogenesis, principles of radiation biology, and the pathobiology of laboratory animals. Dr. Weil earned his PhD in Microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin and was trained in cancer genetics and radiation biology in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Biochemistry and the Department of Experimental Radiotherapy at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Weil is a Radiation Research Society council member and has served on National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Defense, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration grant review panels. |
![]() DAVID J. PAWEL![]() is Statistician in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Radiation and Indoor Air. His current focus is a reassessment of the EPA radiogenic cancer risk estimates. He is a co-author of the "Blue Book" on EPA's most recent radiogenic risk models and an EPA technical report on its assessment of risks from radon in homes. In 2003, as the second Beebe Fellow, he studied methods to improve cancer-specific radiogenic risk estimates at the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) in Hiroshima, Japan and the National Cancer Institute in 2004. Dr. Pawel was a member of the RERF Statistics Department from 1992 to 1994. He is a member of NCRP and served on its committee on uncertainties in internal dose estimates. He has a BS in Mathematics from the College of William and Mary, an MS in Statistics from Rutgers University, and a PhD in Statistics from the University of Wyoming. |
![]() JOHN D. BOICE, JR.is currently Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. He was President of NCRP, Bethesda, Maryland from 2012 to 2018. Dr. Boice is an international authority on radiation effects and served on the Main Commission of the International Commission on Radiological Protection for 20 y and as a U.S. advisor to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation for 25 y. During 27 y of service in the U.S. Public Health Service, Dr. Boice developed and became the first chief of the Radiation Epidemiology Branch at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Boice has established programs of research in all major areas of radiation epidemiology, with major projects dealing with populations exposed to medical, occupational, military and environmental radiation. These research efforts have aimed at clarifying cancer and other health risks associated with exposure to ionizing radiation, especially at low-dose levels. Dr. Boice's seminal discoveries and over 500 publications have been used to formulate public-health measures to reduce population exposure to radiation and prevent radiation-associated diseases. He has delivered the Lauriston S. Taylor Lecture at the NCRP and the Fessinger-Springer Lecture at the University of Texas at El Paso. In 2008, Dr. Boice received the Harvard School of Public Health Alumni Award of Merit. He has also received the E.O. Lawrence Award from the Department of Energy — an honor bestowed on Richard Feynman and Murray Gell-Mann among others — and the Gorgas Medal from the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. In 1999 he received the outstanding alumnus award from the University of Texas at El Paso (formerly Texas Western College). Dr. Boice directs the Million U.S. Radiation Workers and Veterans Study to examine the lifetime risk of cancer following relatively low-dose exposures received gradually over time. |
![]() LAWRENCE T. DAUERis Associate Attending Physicist, and Associate Clinical Member in the Departments of Medical Physics and Radiology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in New York City. He earned an MS in Health Physics and a PhD in Adult Education. He is certified in comprehensive health physics by the American Board of Health Physics and is past chair of the Radiation Safety Committee of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), past President of the Greater New York Chapter of the Health Physics Society (HPS), Executive Council Member of the Medical Physics Section of the HPS, a Member of the Joint Safety Committee of the Society for Interventional Radiology and the American College of Radiology, past council member of the Radiological and Medical Physics chapter of the AAPM, and a member of editorial and review boards of several scientific journals. He serves as the Chair of the MSKCC Emergency Management Committee, a member of the Radiation Injury Treatment Network. In 2005, he received the Elda E. Anderson Award from HPS. He is a Council member and serves on he Board of Directors of the NCRP. He also serves as a member of the International Commission on Radiological Protection Committee 3 on protection in medicine, a member of the science council for the International Organization for Medical Physics, and was on the program committee for the International Atomic Energy Agency's International Conference on Radiation Protection in Medicine-Setting the Scene for the Next Decade. He serves on the Radiation Advisory Committee of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board. He has several publications in the topical areas of radiation protection and risks in the fields of detection, radiology, interventional radiology, x-ray imaging, nuclear medicine, and radiation oncology, as well as surgery and medicine. |
![]() Eric J. Grant
RERF's mission is to study the long-term health effects due to radiation exposure to the atomic bombings. Dr. Grant's research has focused on solid cancer risks of radiation exposure. He has also published on hormonal changes among women after whole-body exposure, and on the lack of evidence of trans-generational mortality effects of radiation exposure among the children of the atomic-bomb survivors. Dr. Grant is the principle investigator of a project bringing Master- and PhD-level students to RERF to complete projects using RERF data. This outreach program has been successful in recruiting students to radiation-related research positions. Dr. Grant is also working to improve data sharing policies to improve collaborative research opportunities with students and scientists around the world. |
![]() David G. Hoel
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![]() Janice L. Huff
Dr. Huff has held the positions of research assistant professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she studied integrin-mediated cancer cell migration and metastasis, and was also a research scientist at Bioforce Nanosciences, Inc., a bio-nanotechnology company specializing in development of ultraminiaturized biodiagnostic tools and technologies. She received a BS in Microbiology and a BA in Psychology from the University of Rochester, and earned a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Virginia studying molecular biology, oncogenes and signal transduction in the laboratory of J. Thomas Parsons. Dr. Huff was elected to the NCRP in 2017, was a member of Scientific Committee (SC) 1-24P2: Radiation Exposures in Space and the Potential of Central Nervous System Effects, and currently serves on SC 1-27: Evaluation of Sex-Specific Differences in Lung Cancer Radiation Risks and Recommendations for Use in Transfer and Projection Models. She was a member of the Organizing Committee for the 2019 and 2020 NCRP Annual Meetings. |
![]() Dale L. Preston
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![]() Mikhail Sokolnikovbegan his professional career in radiation research in 1989 conducting experimental studies while a PhD student at the Southern Ural Biophysics Institute (SUBI). His thesis addressed cellular lung immunity after inhalation intake of Pu-239. Dr Sokolnikov joined the radiation epidemiology laboratory of SUBI in 1996 as a researcher, studying cancer effects following protracted occupational exposure to external gamma radiation combined with exposure to internally deposited alpha‐emitting Pu-239 among the cohort of Russian nuclear workers at the Mayak complex. The pattern of exposure in this cohort differs from that in atomic-bomb survivors by the type of radiation (external gamma exposure plus internal exposure to alpha particles) and the pattern of dose accumulation (chronic versus acute). Dr. Sokolnikov participated in a large‐scale study funded by Russian Federal Government together with governments or funding agencies from the European Union (EU) and the United States in 1996. In particular he participated in EU research program INCO‐Copernicus and EU research framework programs 6 and 7. Since 1996 he participated in research coordinated by Joint Coordinating Committee for Radiation Effects Research as a researcher and since 2006 as a Principal Investigator. In 2005, Dr. Sokolnikov became the Head of the Radiation Epidemiology Laboratory and in 2016 became the Head of the Epidemiology Division of Southern Urals Biophysics Institute. He was a member of the International Agency for Research on Cancer committee that prepared the recent monograph (Volume 100D) on effects of radiation exposure. In May 2017 he was elected as a member of International Commission on Radiological Protection Committee 1. |
![]() MICHAEL D. STORYis a professor at the University of Texas (UT) Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas. Dr. Story earned his PhD from Colorado State University. He holds the David A. Pistenmaa, MD, PhD Distinguished Chair in Radiation Oncology, serves as Vice-Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology, Chief of the Division of Molecular Radiation Biology, and Director of the Pre-clinical Radiation Core Facility. Dr. Story serves on the editorial board of Mutagenesis and the International Journal of Particle Therapy and has served on a number of review panels for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and other entities. Dr. Story directs the radiobiology course for the Medical Physics graduate program and the Radiation Oncology medical resident program and was a faculty member for NASA’s Space Radiation Summer School. Dr. Story's research is focused on five areas associated with radiation exposure: (1) delineating the effects of novel superoxide dismutase compounds that can act as both radioprotector and radiosensitizer in the same setting; (2) understanding and exploiting the biological effects of tumor treating fields in combination with radiation and/or chemotherapy agents; (3) developing biomarkers of the radioresponse of lung and liver tissues to high linear-energy transfer radiation exposures, including the development of biomarkers of carcinogenic risk; (4) enhancement of carbon ion radiotherapy for pancreatic and head and neck cancers; and (5) identification of genomic or epigenomic factors that predict or are prognostic for the radioresponse in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Dr. Story's research is funded by NCI, NASA, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, and industry.
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![]() Richard Wakeford
He graduated with a BSc in Physics, and then received a PhD in High Energy Physics, from the University of Liverpool before joining British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) in 1977. He worked for BNFL for nearly 30 y, most of the time advising on the risks to health from exposure to radiation, before taking early retirement in 2006 and joining the academic staff of The University of Manchester. In 1994 he received the Founder’s Prize of the U.K. Society for Radiological Protection for “contributions of distinction to radiological protection.” Dr. Wakeford has worked on many research projects involving exposure to radiation and has published and lectured extensively in the field of radiation epidemiology and risk assessment. He has been Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Radiological Protection since 1997 and is a member of the Editorial Board of British Journal of Cancer. He has been a member of a number of U.K., European Union, and international expert groups, including Committee 1 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, and the U.K. Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment. Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, he was a member of the U.K. Government’s Scientific Advice Group for Emergencies and the World Health Organization’s Health Risk Assessment Expert Working Group on the Fukushima accident. |
![]() Linda Walsh
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![]() Lydia B. Zablotska
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![]() Steve Blattnig
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![]() R. JULIAN PRESTONis currently a Special Government Employee (Expert) with the Radiation Protection Division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He was previously the Associate Director for Health for the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory of EPA. He also served as Director of the Environmental Carcinogenesis Division at EPA and as senior science adviser at the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology. He has been employed at the Biology Division of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and has served as Associate Director for the Oak Ridge–University of Tennessee Graduate School for Biomedical Sciences. Dr. Preston's research and current activities have focused on the mechanisms of radiation and chemical carcinogenesis and the approaches for incorporating these types of data into cancer risk assessments. Dr. Preston currently serves on two NCRP committees and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board and a member of an Office of Science and Technology Policy Committee on Low Dose Radiation Research. Dr. Preston was chair of Committee 1 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), a member of the ICRP Main Commission, and the Representative and a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation. He served as Chair for the National Research Council's Committee to Assess the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program and on the Task Group on the Biological Effects of Space Radiation. He is an associate editor of Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis and Chemico-Biological Interactions. Dr. Preston has had more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and chapters published. He received his BA and MA from Peterhouse, Cambridge University, England, in genetics and his PhD from Reading University, England, in radiation genetics. |
![]() Werner Rühmis Acting Director of the Institute of Radiation Protection and leads the Medical and Environmental Dosimetry Group at the Helmholtz Center Munich, Germany. In addition he is professor at the Medical Faculty of the University of Munich. Dr. Rühm has been a member of Committee 1 (C1) of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) since 2005. He served as C1 Secretary from 2012 to 2016, and has continued as C1 Chair since 2016. He was a member of ICRP Task Group (TG) 83 (Protection of Aircraft Crew Against Cosmic Radiation Exposure), and is currently chairing ICRP TG91 on Dose and Dose-Rate Effectiveness Factor. Since 2005 he has served as Editor-in-Chief of the Radiation and Environmental Biophysics journal. In 2014 he was elected Chair of the European Radiation Dosimetry Group, and in 2017 was appointed as a member of the German Radiation Protection Commission (SSK), and as Co-chair of the SSK Committee on Radiation Risk. He has published on various topics including quantification of neutron exposure of atomic-bomb survivors, cosmic-ray exposure of air crew, the role of neutrons in risk assessment of atomic-bomb survivors, risks from low-dose-rate exposures, behaviour of radionuclides in the environment, internal exposures from incorporated radionuclides, and radiation measurement techniques. Werner Rühm is serving as the Chair of the German Commission on Radiation Protection. |
![]() MARVIN ROSENSTEIN![]() is a consultant, currently concentrating on the preparation of scientific reports produced by NCRP in all subject areas. From 1982 to 1995, he was Director, Office of Health Physics at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. He also served in a number of scientific and management positions related to radiation protection during his 33 y career as a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service, from 1962 to 1995. He received a BS in Chemical Engineering (University of Maryland, 1961), an MS in Environmental Engineering (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1966) and a PhD in Nuclear Engineering (University of Maryland, 1971). His technical work has concentrated on radiation dosimetry, particularly with regard to x rays used for medical diagnosis, epidemiological studies of exposed populations, and public radiation emergencies. He is a Distinguished Emeritus Member of NCRP (after serving as a Council member for 18 y), and an Emeritus member of Committee 3 (Protection in Medicine) of the International Commission on Radiological Protection [after serving on Committee 3 for 28 y (1985 to 2013)]. He was also a member of the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements report committee that produced Report 74, Patient Dosimetry for X Rays Used in Medical Imaging. |