AAHP and ABHP Continuing Education Courses at HPS’ 67th Annual Meeting

2022 AAHP Continuing Education Courses

Any personal or professional opinions presented within these courses reflect those of the presenters, and not necessarily those of the Academy.

Select your desired course when registering:

Course 1: 8 hours (In-person only) (16 CECs)

Key Aspects of Radiology and Nuclear Emergency Response and Recovery

8:00 am - 5:00 pm, Spokane, WA local time (Pacific Time)

Presenter Names

• Brooke Buddemeier, CHP - Global Security Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
• William Irwin, CHP - Radiological Sciences Program Chief, Vermont Department of Health
• Angela Leek, CHP - Radiological Health Bureau Chief, Iowa Department of Public Health
• Brendan Palmer - Director of CBRN Programs, Chainbridge Technologies

Course Description

This course will provide participants with information and skills that are critical to responding to and recovering from a radiological or nuclear incident. The main topical areas include:

1. Review of the key concepts outlined in the newest Federal guidance documents recently updated for nuclear detonation response.
2. Review and training on key core aspects of the CBRN Responder system for whole community data collection and situational awareness, and introduction of new simulation and data management features,
3. Review of the Radiological Operations Support Specialist program and development of the key aspects of ROSS qualifications, skill development, and integration with state/local jurisdictions.
4. Review and demonstration of the newly developed Virtual Evaluation Scenario Tool (VEST) as a remote opportunity for ROSS to practice skills and apply knowledge in a simulated nuclear detonation response environment. 

Course 2: 4-hours (In-person or virtual) (8 CECs)

Introductory Radiation Epidemiology & Biostatistics

8:00 am - 12:00 pm, Spokane, WA local time (Pacific Time)

Presenter Names

• Ashley Golden, Director of ORISE Health Studies, ORAU 

Course Description

Session 1 (~1.5 hrs, 0.5 hrs Q&A)
After participation in this session, attendees should be able to…

1. Explain basic epidemiologic concepts and terms 
2. Describe the main epidemiologic study types and their strengths and weaknesses
3. Explain type I and type II error and confidence intervals
4. Understand commonly used risk measurements and statistical approaches for modeling

Session 2 (~1.5 hrs, 0.5 hrs Q&A)
After participation in session 2, attendees should be able to… 

1. Describe the basic principles and purpose of radiation epidemiology
2. Explain the importance and challenges of working with radiation cohorts
3. Understand the basic process of completing a radiation epidemiologic study from cohort selection through statistical analysis and data visualization 

Brief Summary of Course Content:
Epidemiologic studies of radiation cohorts face many unique challenges from cohort selection to statistical risk modeling approaches and uncertainties. Thus, the purpose of this session is to provide an introductory overview on the methodological and statistical approaches commonly used in radiation epidemiology. This course briefly introduces general epidemiological concepts, study designs, and risk measurements. However, the majority of this course will focus on the analytic decision-making process and risk modeling, including the comparison of Poisson and Cox Proportional Hazards regression techniques, primarily used in radiation epidemiology. The session will conclude with an example of how the concepts are applied for the Million Person Study, a study of chronic low dose radiation in 1 million United States Workers and Veterans. 

Course 3: 8-hours (In-person or virtual) (16 CECs)

FRMAC AS-50 Assessment Science Overview

8:00 am - 5:00 pm, Spokane, WA local time (Pacific Time)

Presenter Names

• Lainy Cochran, CHP - Nuclear Incident Response Program, Sandia National Laboratories
• Brian Hunt, CHP - Nuclear Incident Response Program, Sandia National Laboratories

Course Description

The Department of Energy’s Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center (FRMAC) is an asset comprised of representatives of multiple federal agencies that are available on request to support a response to nuclear/radiological accidents and/or emergencies. The FRMAC works with multiple agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish consistent radiological dose assessment methods to support public protection guidance provided by the EPA’s and FDA’s Protective Action Guides (PAG). The revised EPA PAG Manual references the FRMAC Assessment Manual (FAM) for radiological dose assessment methods in support of protective action decisions. This presentation provides an overview of the FRMAC Assessment Manual, describes the default methods for radiological dose assessment, and introduces the Turbo FRMAC software tool that automates these assessment methods.

1. Introduces the FRMAC function, organizational structure and support capabilities, the EPA and FDA Protective Action Guides, the FRMAC Assessment Manual format and tables; Presents several mathematical concepts used in the dose assessment methods; Introduces the software tool, Turbo FRMAC.
2. Presents an overview of the dose assessment methods and mathematical calculations used for Public Protection; Demonstrates the use of the software tool Turbo FRMAC to generate Public Protection dose assessments.
3. Presents an overview of the dose assessment methods and mathematical calculations used for the Ingestion Pathway; Demonstrates the use of the software tool Turbo FRMAC to generate ingestion dose assessments.

Location and Contact Info

The Davenport Grand

333 W Spokane Falls Blvd, Spokane, WA 99201

(509) 458-3330