I enjoyed having the opportunity to talk with many of you at the Health Physics Society (HPS) annual meeting in San Diego. The beautiful venue in addition to the many educational and social activities made the meeting very productive and enjoyable. All of us were honored to have Ralph Thomas, one of our section's founders, with us as the G. William Morgan Lecturer at the Accelerator Section special session. Many thanks to Ralph for taking the time to prepare a memorable presentation on the history of accelerator radiation protection.
I want to update you on the topic of a potential future HPS midyear meeting on radiation-generating machines (RGM) that I mentioned in the last Accelerator Radiation Safety Newsletter. In San Diego, I attended meetings of the Venues and Symposia Committees as a follow-up to my earlier contacts with the HPS secretariat and the committees. This potential RGM midyear meeting is proposed as a collaboration between the Accelerator Section (handling the technical program) and the Northern California Chapter of the HPS (serving as the local arrangements committee). I am pleased to report that the preliminary discussions with both committees were well received. A first-level draft proposal for a 2007 RGM midyear was generated by the Accelerator Section board of directors at the San Diego meeting and was provided to both committees and the Northern California Chapter board of directors. In 1997, our section and the Northern California Chapter collaborated successfully on the San Jose RGM midyear meeting. The Accelerator Section board will keep the membership informed as discussions with the Northern California Chapter progress.
Finally, I wanted to make all of you aware of the outstanding work done by Lorraine Day, our section secretary, in support of our section at the San Diego meeting. First, she produced an RGM midyear meeting proposal to formalize our request for consideration. Then, Lorraine worked with HPS staff to expedite the check for the H. Wade Patterson Memorial Award winner, along with producing an appropriate certificate for the winner. Also, she generated a letter of nomination for an Accelerator Section International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) delegate. Many thanks to Lorraine for her willingness and ability to support the Accelerator Section.