HIGHLIGHTS:
KEITH ECKERMAN RECEIVES GOLD MEDAL FOR RADIATION PROTECTION
The Gold Medal for Radiation Protection is awarded once every four years by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. ICRP is the nominating body for this award which is given to a person who has made a highly valuable contribution to international radiation protection work during the preceding 10-year period. On Friday May 18, 2012, the medal was presented to Dr. Keith Eckerman during the closing ceremonies of the IRPA International Congress held in Glasgow, Scotland.
While at the Oak Ridge Associated Universities Dr. Eckerman became interested in health physics as a career choice, eventually receiving a Ph.D. in radiologic physics from Northwestern University in 1972. In 1979, after some time with Argonne National Laboratory and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, he became group leader of the Dosimetry Research Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He has remained there for the past three decades
He has been an active member of ICRP Committee 2 since 1984 and chaired the ICRP Task Group on Dose Calculations from 1984 to 2007. During this period, the role of age and gender on dose from intakes of radionuclides was a major focus, and collaborative efforts among members of the ORNL Dosimetry Research Group, Committee 2, and Committee 2 Task Groups were directed toward advancing all aspects in modelling the fate and dosimetry of radionuclides in the body.
Dr. Eckerman is a distinguished emeritus member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurement. He received the Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award from the Health Physics Society in 1995 and the Loevinger-Berman Award from the Society of Nuclear Medicine in 2001.
Dr. Eckerman is the twelfth recipient of the Gold Medal for Radiation Protection since it was first awarded in 1962, joining the ranks of the distinguished past recipients: W. Binks, K.Z. Morgan, W. Mayneord, L. Taylor, E. Pochin, S. Takahashi, B. Lindell, I. Shigematsu, A. Guskova, R. Doll and K. Sankaranarayanan.
