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Women Leadership of the HPS

As part of the Health Physics Society (HPS) Public Information Committee (PIC) initiative to document and celebrate the women of radiation protection, this section features newly and past elected officers of the HPS Board, chapters, sections, and committees that make the Society function.

We are proud to have them as leaders of the HPS and have gathered information about them here so you can get to know them better.

Please continue to submit biographies to the PIC.

Table of Contents

HPS Board

Kendall Berry – Treasurer (2022–2024)
Shaheen Azim Dewji – Director (2022–2025)
Elizabeth Gillenwalters – Director (2014–2017)
Kathryn Higley – Director (2020–2023)
Kimberlee Jane Kearfott – Director (1992–1995)
Patricia L. Lee – Director (2008–2012)
Angela Leek – Director (2022–2025)
Nicole Martinez – Secretary (2021–2023)
Tanya Palmateer-Oxenberg – Director-Elect (2023)
Mary Gene Ryan – Health Physics Journal Editor/Special Publications Editor (2011–present)
Adela Salame-Alfie – Director (2021–2024)
Ali Simpkins – Treasurer (2019–2022)
Jama D. VanHorne-Sealy – Director (2020–2023)
Latha Vasudevan – Director (2019–2022)

HPS Chapters

Christine A. Bullock – Rio Grande Chapter President (2020–2021)
Bae Chu – Greater New York Chapter President (2017–2018)
Deirdre Elder – Central Rocky Mountain Chapter President (2013–2015)
Andrea Geyer – Virginia Chapter President (2016–2017)
Sarah H. Goke – Rio Grande Chapter President (2019–2020)
Janet Gutiérrez – State of Texas Chapter President (2012–2013)
Kris Hyatt – Rio Grande Chapter President (2018–2019)
Nisy E. Ipe – Northern California Chapter President (2006–2007)
Korressa Lee – Baltimore-Washington Chapter President (2022–2023)
Bridget Smith – San Diego Chapter Secretary (2018–2025)

HPS Committees

Lainy Cochran – Membership Committee Chair (2020–2023)
Sara Dumit – Public Information Committee Chair (2023–2025)
Candace Krout – Public Information Committee Deputy Chair (2021–2023)
Ran Angela Meng – Public Information Committee Chair (2025–2027)
Nazia Zakir – Rules Committee Chair (2018)

HPS Sections

Amanda Anderson – Environmental/Radon Section Past President (2020–2021)
Amber Bolen – Women in Radiation Protection Section Secretary-Elect (2024–2025)
Lisa Manglass – Environmental/Radon Section President (2019–2022)
Rachel Pope Nichols – Women in Radiation Protection Section President (2022–2024)
Caitlin Root – AIRRS Section Secretary/Treasurer (2020–2023)

HPS Student Branches

Annabelle Hoffert – Purdue Student Branch Vice President (2023–2024)

Ask the Experts

Emily Caffrey – Ask the Experts Editor in Chief (2019–present)
Genevieve Roessler – Ask the Experts Editor in Chief (1999–2019)

HPS Publications

Deanna Baker – Health Physics Journal Editorial Assistant (1994–present)
Mary Walchuk – Health Physics Society News Editor (1993–present)

 

HPS Board

Kendall Berry (Treasurer 2022–2024)

Kendall Berry obtained her MSPH (MS in public health) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a double major in health physics and industrial hygiene. She has worked in medical/research radiation safety for over 25 years and has worked as a radiation safety officer (RSO) since 2007. She is currently the RSO at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. She has held several leadership positions including treasurer of her local HPS chapter, Delaware Valley Society for Radiation Safety; president of the HPS Academic, Industrial, and Research Radiation Safety Section; Medical Health Physics Section director; and director on the HPS Board of Directors. She is currently the treasurer of the HPS.

Kendall is passionate about sharing lessons learned and, although not a career researcher, she has published several operational articles in Health Physics Journal/Operational Radiation Safety. She also routinely presents operational topics at local, regional, and national health physics meetings.

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Shaheen Azim Dewji (Director 2022–2025)

Dr. Shaheen Azim Dewji is an assistant professor in the Nuclear and Radiological Engineering and Medical Physics Programs in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she leads the Radiological Engineering, Detection, and Dosimetry (RED2) Research Laboratory (Twitter: @DewjiRED2). Prior, Shaheen was a faculty member in Department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A&M University and a faculty fellow of the Center for Nuclear Security Science and Policy Initiatives. In her preceding role at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Shaheen was radiological scientist in the Center for Radiation Protection Knowledge and nondestructive assay engineer in the Safeguards and Security Technology Group.

Her recent research has included assessment of patient release criteria for nuclear medicine patients, as well as development of dose coefficients associated with the external exposure and internal uptake of radionuclides due to environmental or nuclear security exposures. Shaheen completed her MS and PhD degrees in nuclear and radiological engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, and is an alumni of the Sam Nunn Security Program. As a native of Vancouver, Canada, she received her bachelor of science in physics from the University of British Columbia. Shaheen has been a member of the Health Physics Society since 2006 and was recipient of the prestigious Elda E. Anderson Award in 2018. She has served as a US representative on the ISO/TC 85/SC2 - Population Monitoring Following a Radiological Emergency since 2016 and as a member of the National Academies of Science Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board since 2020.

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Elizabeth Gillenwalters (Director 2014–2017)

Elizabeth Gillenwalters, CHP, CSP, serves as the senior director of Radiation Protection and Environmental, Health, and Safety for Siemens Healthineers within the Siemens Molecular Imaging division. In this role, she also holds the position of corporate radiation safety officer for PETNET Solutions, Inc., and Advanced Accelerator Applications Molecular Imaging global network, which encompasses 44 facilities across the United States and 24 locations in the United Kingdom, India, and Europe. This extensive network supports the care of over two million patients annually, providing a broad array of PET diagnostic imaging agents used in the detection of solid tumor cancers, Alzheimer's disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, and other clinical conditions.

As senior director, Elizabeth leads the development and implementation of robust programs designed to ensure the safe operation of cyclotrons, the handling of unsealed byproduct material, hazardous chemicals, as well as both long- and short-lived radioactive and hazardous waste. Additionally, she oversees the transport of radioactive materials. She is supported by a world-class team of health physicists, project managers, and regulatory specialists who work collaboratively to maintain regulatory compliance and drive continuous safety program improvement in the dynamic and fast-paced field of PET.

Elizabeth has demonstrated a strong commitment to the health physics community through her ongoing service in various leadership roles. For the Health Physics Society (HPS), she was a director on the HPS Board (2014–2017), past chair of the Student Support and Society Support Committees (2010–2014), chair of the Student Support Committee (2010–2012), chair of the Society Support Committee (2012–2014), on the Steering Committee for the Women in Radiation Protection Section (2019–2021), and a member of the HPS Nominating Committee (2017–2020). Elizabeth was also a member of the American Academy of Health Physics Professional Ethics and Standards Committee (2020–2023) and currently serves as the president of the Health Physics Academic Education and Research Center (HPAERC), a position she has held since 2023.

Posted 20 March 2025

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Kathryn Higley (Director 2020–2023)

Kathryn Higley is a professor and led the School of Nuclear Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University (OSU) for a decade. She has been at OSU since 1994, and has managed OSU's Radiation Health Physics program, including developing its online graduate degree, into the largest in the country.

She was the chair of the International Commission on Radiological Protection's Committee 5: Protection of the Environment, and currently is a council member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (which advises the US government on radiation safety issues).

Kathryn, a certified health physicist, served as a Board Member (2020–2023) of the Health Physics Society (HPS) and is an HPS Fellow. More recently she served as associate director of the TRACE project, Oregon State's multidisciplinary effort to monitor prevalence of COVID-19 at OSU campuses and statewide. She recently assumed the role of interim director of the Center for Quantitative Life Sciences at OSU. In 2022, she was named an OSU Distinguished Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering.

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Kimberlee Jane Kearfott (Director 1992–1995)

Dr. Kim Kearfott, ScD, CHP, is a board-certified radiation safety specialist at both the practitioner (NRRPT) and professional (CHP) levels. She is a tenured full professor of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences at the University of Michigan with a doctor of science degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a doctoral minor from Harvard School of Public Health (nuclear medicine imaging, medical physics, radiation biology). She also earned a master of engineering degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Virginia in nuclear reactor safety. Kim received the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator, the Society of Nuclear Medicine Tetalman Memorial, the Health Physics Society (HPS) Elda E. Anderson, and the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Women's Achievement and Rockwell Lifetime Achievement awards. She is a Fellow of the HPS, the primary scientific organization of radiation protection specialists in the United States. She has served on the national board of directors of both the ANS and the HPS. She completed training in the first class of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) radiological operations support specialists (ROSS).

Kim has more than four decades of research and applied experience in radiation detection and radiological safety. She began her career in reactor safety analysis. She then became known for her early work on internal dose assessments for positron emission tomography (PET) and for her designs of clinical PET facilities. She performed pioneering work in radon: discovering and mitigating the highest ever recorded domestic indoor radon air concentration. She has conducted projects in personnel radiation monitoring, external dosimetry, and internal dose assessment. Her current research is the design of radiation detection systems for environmental radiation, homeland security, and nuclear weapons verification. Kim maintains an interest in measurement systems of all types, including the detection of conventional explosives. She holds several patents on radiation detection methods and detectors. Kim has supervised approximately 412 graduate and undergraduate student projects, resulting in more than 634 publications.

An experienced professor, Kim has presented more than 250 talks, 83 formal undergraduate and graduate courses, and 37 short courses. Additionally, Kim has over 60 radio, television, and film appearances, including online blog mentions and YouTube videos, where she was invited as a health physics expert. Kim has a strong record of professional service, not only with the HPS, but also with many international, national, and state professional organizations. Kim has 9 patents issued and 18 patents disclosures or fillings. She has been honored with 28 awards (nationally and internationally).

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Patricia L. Lee (Director 2008–2012)

The Honorable Patricia L. Lee was confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as a member of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB) in July 2024. This appointment follows more than two decades of research and leadership at the Savannah River National Laboratory, including two Intergovernmental Personnel Act (IPA) appointments at the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Management (EM) headquarters in Washington, DC. Her IPA roles included serving as a senior advisor to the EM assistant secretary as liaison to the DNFSB and as a technical advisor on technology development.

Patricia discovered the field of health physics through a DOE fellowship while earning a master of science in physics from Clark Atlanta University. She subsequently enrolled at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) where she earned a master of science in health physics and doctor of philosophy in nuclear engineering/health physics, advised by Dr. Bernd Kahn. Her involvement with the Health Physics Society (HPS) began with her position as president of the student branch at Georgia Tech. She quickly engaged with the local chapter and the national HPS by serving on the Local Arrangements Committee for the HPS annual meeting in Atlanta.

After many years in various roles, the community elected her to serve on the HPS Board of Directors (2008–2012). Throughout her over three decades of service to the Society, she served as a member and/or leader on the Nominating, Program, and Liaison Committees; in the Savannah River and Atlanta Chapters; and in the Environmental/Radon and Women in Radiation Protection Sections.

As an accomplished researcher, manager, and leader, Patricia coauthored several peer-reviewed publications and lead computational research programs aimed at maturing technology to evaluate radiological hazards and potential environmental impacts for protection of the public and workers. Employment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in her early years was transformative in helping her recognize the value of doctoral research in real-time environments, which she pursued by beginning her employment at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as she initiated her doctoral research. A strong advocate for public service, Patricia has served on a variety of technical, nontechnical, and community affiliated boards. A demonstrated selfless leader dedicated to training and educating the next generation of scientists, Patricia served as a visiting professor in nuclear engineering at South Carolina State University, where she shared her expertise and diverse experience through mentoring, coaching, and fostering opportunities for students to grow professionally.

A native of Springfield, Massachusetts, Patricia also holds bachelor of science in physics from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania.

Posted 25 March 2025

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Angela Leek (Director 2022–2025)

Angela Leek, CHP, joined SummitET as the director of Radiological Solutions and Regulatory Affairs in February 2023 after 16 years in the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services radiation control program. For the last nine years, Angela served as Bureau Chief of Radiological Health and was responsible for all radiological regulation programs in Iowa, including licensing and inspection activities for radiation-producing machines, radioactive materials, and radon and tanning programs. In addition to these regulatory functions, Angela was responsible for coordinating dose assessment and developing protective action recommendations for radiation emergency preparedness and response and continues support in Iowa and across the nation as a Type 1 Radiological Operations Support Specialist and is a member of the national ROSS working group to develop and grow the national ROSS program.

Angela recently served as the chairperson for the Conference for Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD), Iowa's governor-appointed state liaison officer to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Iowa's voting member for the Organization of Agreement States. Angela is a director member of the Board of the Health Physics Society. Angela has and continues to develop and support over 100 trainings and presentations on radiation protection, regulatory program perspectives, and emergency response. Angela has been involved in radiation protection for over 25 years and is certified by the American Board of Health Physics. She earned her master's in radiation health physics from Oregon State University and is currently working on her PhD at Iowa State University.

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Nicole Martinez (Secretary 2021–2023)

Dr. Nicole Martinez, CHP, is an associate professor at Clemson University with a joint faculty appointment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Nicole graduated from Texas A&M University with a BS degree in applied mathematical sciences, and thereafter became an officer in the US Navy where she was a nuclear power instructor and later a radiation health officer. Followed by a brief stint working in industry, Nicole attended graduate school at Colorado State University, where she received an MS and PhD in radiological health sciences, with emphasis in health physics and radioecology, respectively. Nicole's research group focuses on dosimetric modeling and the behavior and effects of radiological contaminants in the environment for applications ranging from risk assessment to biosensing.

Nicole is active in the radiation protection (RP) community, currently serving on the Health Physics Society (HPS) Board of Directors as secretary (2021–2023) and having previously served as the secretary/treasurer of the Environmental Radon Section (2015–2017) and president of the Women in Radiation Protection Section (2018–2020). She is vice chair of Committee 4 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and chair of ICRP Task Group 125 focused on ecosystem services. She is also a member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) and vice chair of NCRP Scientific Committee 6-13: Methods and Models for Estimating Organ Doses from Intakes of Radium. For her service, Nicole was honored in 2018 as the inaugural recipient of the ICRP Bo Lindell Medal for the Promotion of Radiological Protection. In 2019, she was awarded the HPS Elda E. Anderson Award, and in 2020, she was awarded the Clemson College of Engineering Computing and Applied Sciences Murray Stokley Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Nicole is a strong supporter and advocate for underrepresented students and health physicists and periodically volunteers at local events related to K–12 students' outreach and is chair-elect of Clemson University's Commission on Women. Additionally, Nicole served as guest editor for the Health Physics Journal Special Issue highlighting women in radiation protection in 2018. Nicole hopes that as a community we can increase involvement of members from all career levels, educational backgrounds, and areas of expertise to foster an environment in which ALL Society members feel welcome, valued, and included.

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Tanya Palmateer-Oxenberg (Director 2023–2026)

Dr. Tanya Palmateer-Oxenberg has 45 years' experience in environmental and radiation safety, which began her senior year as a biology major at Virginia Tech. She was one of four women in her class to graduate with the health physics option. She began her career as a health physics technician at Dominion's (formerly Virginia Electric Power Company) North Anna Power Station. She holds an MS in health physics from Georgia Tech and both an MS in environmental science and engineering and PhD in environmental engineering and chemistry from Johns Hopkins University.

Tanya has designed multimedia environmental sampling plans monitoring complex sites to determine transport and migration of radioactive materials to support National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation and risk assessments. While working for the Army, she managed the command's radiation safety program at eight test centers in the United States and the Republic of Panama that included two fast burst research reactors and 16 Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) licenses for byproduct, source, and special nuclear material. She has extensive decontamination and decommissioning experience of sites ranging in complexity and size involving NRC-licensed materials, exempt materials, and materials promulgated under section 91b of the Atomic Energy Act. Since retiring from the NRC, Tanya started a consulting firm to provide radiation safety and MARSSIM training and to support NEPA documentation and risk assessments.

A member of the Virginia Tech Student Branch as an undergraduate, Tanya is now a member of the Baltimore-Washington and Virginia Chapters. She was president of the Baltimore-Washington Chapter in 2015 and the Virginia Chapter in 2017. She joined the HPS in 1982 and is a member of the Decommissioning Section; the Women in Radiation Protection Section; the Academic, Industrial, and Research Radiation Safety Section; and the Environmental/Radon Section. She served on the Program Committee (2016–2019) and was a task force member for several midyear and annual meetings. She is currently chair of the Society Support Committee (2020–2023).

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Mary Gene Ryan (Health Physics Journal Editor/Special Publications Editor 2011–present)

Mary Gene Ryan is managing editor of the Health Physics Journal and has served in that capacity since 2011. She is also an auxiliary member of the HPS Executive Board and a member of the Society's Publications Board. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts, and a master's degree and a doctorate in education from the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina.

Prior to her work with Health Physics, Mary Gene served as the dean of arts and sciences at Aiken Technical College in Aiken, South Carolina; as the dean of student success at Charleston Southern University in Charleston, South Carolina; and as the retention coordinator at Midlands Technical College in Columbia, South Carolina.

In her free time, Mary Gene enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time with her family in Shewsbury, Massachusetts.

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Adela Salame-Alfie (Director 2021–2024)

Adela Salame-Alfie, PhD, FHPS, is a senior health physicist in the Radiation Studies Section at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prior to this appointment, Adela spent 22 years with the New York State Department of Health in various capacities, including director of the Division of Environmental Health Investigation, director of Preparedness for the Center for Environmental Health, and director of the Bureau of Environmental Radiation Protection.

Adela is a member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) and cochaired Scientific Committees 3-1 and 3-2, which prepared NCRP Report 179 and Commentary 28 addressing dosimetry guidance for radiation emergency workers, and Scientific Committee 3-3, which prepared Statement 15 on respiratory protection guidance for workers and volunteers. She is a lifetime member of the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, where she served as chair and member of the Board of Directors, chaired several committees, and received the 2014 Gerald S. Parker Award. She is a Fellow member of the Health Physics Society (HPS), received the 2021 HPS Homeland Security and Emergency Response Section Service Award, and currently serves on the HPS Board of Directors.

She has extensive experience in many areas of radiation protection, including radiological emergency preparedness and response, environmental radiation, and radon, and has published and coauthored many publications.

Adela obtained her MS and PhD in nuclear engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

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Ali Simpkins (Treasurer 2019–2022)

Ali Simpkins has been working on the dose reconstruction project since 2009 and she currently works for Oak Ridge Associated Universities as a deputy dose reconstruction manager. She was treasurer of the Health Physics Society (HPS) from 2019 until 2022. Ali joined the Society in 1993 and has served on numerous committees (including being past chair of the HPS Public Information Committee) and on the Board of Directors. She became a Fellow of the HPS in 2018. She was also the recipient of the Elda E. Anderson Award in 2007, which is given for "research or development, discovery or invention, devotion to health physics, and/or significant contributions to the profession of health physics."

Ali holds bachelor's and master's degrees in nuclear engineering from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. She has 30 years of collective experience in the areas of worker dose reconstruction, environmental assessment, and nuclear safety analyses.

In her spare time, she enjoys reading, cooking, and teaching group fitness classes. Now that their daughters are in college, she is looking forward to more travel with her husband.

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Jama D. VanHorne-Sealy (Director 2020–2023)

Colonel Jama D. VanHorne-Sealy is the lead for Occupational Health, including health physics, for the Army Office of the Surgeon General. She has served in numerous roles in the Army throughout her career, including Army Reactor Program manager, assistant professor of preventive medicine and biometrics and director of radiation safety for the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, as the primary advisor on nuclear and radiation issues for the Office of Health Affairs and the chief medical officer of the Department of Homeland Security, and as the lead for the Department of Defense Medical Radiobiology Advisory Team and instructor for the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute Medical Effects of Ionizing Radiation course.

She was actively involved in the US military response to the Fukushima accident, where she established an in-country presumptive radiation detection laboratory for the US Pacific Forces and served as a technical advisor to US Forces Japan and US Embassy staff. She also developed and implemented the first Radiation Safety Program for US Forces in Afghanistan!

On being elected to the Board, Jama said, "It is my honor and privilege to serve this hardworking professional community. As one of your Board of Directors, my intent is to focus on identifying and improving our support to members and promoting young professional involvement, extolling the advantages of mentorship, and being part of this community."

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Latha Vasudevan (Director 2019–2022)

Dr. Latha Vasudevan, CHP, is the radiation safety officer/laser safety officer for Texas A&M University. She is certified by the American Board of Health Physics and is a Fellow of the Health Physics Society (HPS).

Latha holds MS and PhD degrees in health physics from Texas A&M University and has more than 25 years of work experience as a professional health physicist under the university radiation safety program. She has extensive experience with research reactor radiation safety and has been managing Texas A&M University's broad scope radioactive material license, x-ray registrations, and laser registrations. Latha has various publications and presentations in the applied health physics field and has authored several professional society newsletter articles.

Latha was born and raised in India and after completing a master's degree in physics, she was working as a scientist at the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research, one of India's nuclear research centers under the Department of Atomic Energy. This is where she was first introduced into the field of health physics. She continued her passion and interest in health physics after coming to United States and is very dedicated to the profession.

Latha has been an active member of the national HPS and the State of Texas Chapter of the HPS (STCHPS) and has served in many leadership positions. She was an HPS director and also past president of STCHPS. She is the current president of Academic, Industrial, and Research Radiation Safety Section, a board member of the Women in Radiation Protection Section, and the chair of the Science Support Committee. She has been serving on the American Board of Health Physics Part-II Panel of Examiners for the past five years.

Latha was the recipient of 2022 President's Meritorious Service Award from Texas A&M University.

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HPS Chapters

Christine A. Bullock (Rio Grande Chapter President 2020–2021)

Christine Bullock holds a master's degree in nuclear engineering from the University of New Mexico and is certified in health physics by the American Board of Health Physics.

Christine has been a member of the HPS for more than 25 years and is a board member of the HPS Environmental/Radon Section (2019–2022). She has wholeheartedly served our Society in the past few years with her dedication to the Rio Grande Chapter of the HPS (RGCHPS), located in New Mexico. The RGCHPS, founded in 1962, represents professionals working in government, national laboratories, universities, and medical facilities or as consultants, among others.

At the RGCHPS, she has attained the highest honor of being president-elect (2019–2020), president (2020–2021), and past president (2021–2022). Among her presidential duties, Christine has organized and chaired technical meetings, encouraged scientific research, and supported the professional development of chapter members, especially those who are early-career health physicists.

"I am honored to serve as president of the Rio Grande Chapter of the HPS and for the opportunity to inspire other women in the field to be leaders and become involved in their local HPS chapters too," she said.

Christine has over 25 years of experience in the Department of Energy complex, including working at the Hanford site (Richland, Washington) and Los Alamos National Laboratory (Los Alamos, New Mexico). She has worked in radiological operations, nuclear engineering, radiation protection management, and environmental health and safety management.

Christine is currently an environmental health physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory, and her expertise has been recognized recently through the Secretary of Energy Achievement Award (received in 2020).

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Bae Chu (Greater New York Chapter President 2017–2018)

Dr. Bae Chu is a physicist in the Department of Medical Physics, Medical Health Physics Section of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. She serves as the clinical supervisor with more than 15 years of experience in medical health physics, ensuring the safe handling of radioactive materials in the laboratories and clinical uses of ionizing radiation, both diagnostic and therapeutic. She recently received her doctorate in public health from the City University at New York in June 2022 with her dissertation focused on nurses' perceptions of radiation risks related to clinical practice, training, and patient care that could impact engagement, safety, and quality of care. She also oversees the low-level radioactive waste management and declared pregnancy programs. She manages and supervises staff health physicists, teaches nuclear medicine radiology, radiation oncology, and CAMPEP medical physics residents. Bae was awarded the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Department of Medical Physics in 2021 and the Medical Physics Clinical Service Award in 2016. She is active in Health Physics Society (HPS) professional work and served as president of the Greater New York Chapter of the HPS. She is currently serving as interim chair of the HPS Membership Committee. She is a member of the Radiological and Medical Physics Society of New York and the American Industrial Hygiene Association. Bae is a notable woman in radiation protection.

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Deirdre Elder (Central Rocky Mountain Chapter President 2013–2015)

Deirdre Elder, MS, CHP, is a certified health physicist with an undergraduate degree in engineering physics from Colorado School of Mines and a master's degree in radiological health sciences (health physics) from Colorado State University. She is the radiation safety manager for the UCHealth system and serves as the radiation safety officer and laser safety officer for the University of Colorado Hospital, Longs Peak Hospital, Highlands Ranch Hospital, and other facilities in the University of Colorado Health system. She is also a certified medical laser safety officer and a member of the Laser Institute of America.

Deirdre is an active member of the Health Physics Society (HPS) and has served on several committees, including the Continuing Education Committee (July 2009–July 2012), Government Relations Committee (2015–present), Program Committee (July 2017–present), and Public Information Committee (July 2019–present). She also served the Medical Health Physics Section as a board member (July 2014–July 2019) and secretary/treasurer (July 2017–July 2019). She has been a contributor to the HPS website Ask the Experts feature since 2015 and has been the medical and dental patient issues topic editor since January 2020. She has also served as a reviewer for the Health Physics Journal since 2010.

Deirdre is an active member of the Central Rocky Mountain Chapter and served as the president from May 2013 to April 2015. She has served on the board as president-elect (2012–2013), past president (2015–2016), and board member at large (May 2020–present).

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Andrea Geyer (Virginia Chapter President 2016–2017)

Andrea Geyer, MS, CHP, grew up less than 100 miles east of the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, which spurred her love for atomic science. After the accident, her mother made her consume powdered milk and created a long-lasting change in her breakfast cereal habits. While attending her final year in high school, Andrea was afforded an opportunity to take a course titled Nuclear Science, which allowed her to finally understand the events and the science behind it all. This small course made Andrea eager to find a college where she could continue to understand nuclear science. Luckily, Andrea was able to attend Trenton State College, now named College of New Jersey, which offered a collegiate track in physics with a concentration in health physics. From there, the program offered Andrea a taste of a field that allowed integrated science where she could use her mathematical and scientific skills across all realms of health physics.

After graduating from Trenton State College, Andrea accepted a position with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) as a radiation health inspector. With the experience from the NRC, she gained an opportunity to work as a NASA educational specialist/program manager prior to her tenure at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY). Once she gained a position as a health physicist with NNSY, she began her advocacy to bring more talented individuals into health physics by serving as president (2016–2017) and a notable member of the Virginia Chapter of the Health Physics Society (HPS) and member of the CHP exam panel. Furthermore, she became a member of the advisory and assistance team for NNSY's Radiological Emergency Response Organization. Along with this great journey, Andrea has become a mentor to many at NNSY. Her greatest advice to young health physicists is "once you get started in health physics work, keep growing and learning to advance as far as you want. Join and participate in a professional society like HPS so that HP will be your profession, not just a job you do."

Andrea lives in the Hampton Roads region of Virginia and spends time making scrapbooks for her grandchildren and teaching her dog new tricks. She serves as a manager and branch head for the DT-702 dosimetry program and Health Physics Corporate Training for Code 2360.8, Fleet Maintenance and Radiological Support Division. Andrea's desire is to continue to bring awareness to the personal and professional benefits of the HPS by promoting the understanding that health physics necessarily includes public outreach and education. She believes that respecting those who do not have a general health physics understanding helps to create an insight to continue to learn and increases career self-awareness to ensure misconstrued information about nuclear science does not spread.

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Sarah H. Goke (Rio Grande Chapter President 2019–2020)

Born and raised in Maine, Sarah Goke holds a BA in physics from the University of Southern Maine and an MS in radiological sciences and protection from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Sarah has been a member of the HPS for 23 years and an active member in the Rio Grande Chapter of the HPS (RGCHPS) for 16 years. She has been elected to several positions within the chapter, including director (2015–2018), president-elect (2018–2019), president (2019–2020), and past president (2020–2021). She currently serves as chapter secretary. The RGCHPS, located in the state of New Mexico and founded in 1962, represents professionals working in government, national laboratories, universities, and medical facilities or as consultants, among others.

Sarah has over 23 years of experience as a health physicist, including five years' experience in health physics consulting at Scientech NES (New Milford, Connecticut) and 16 years in the Sandia National Laboratories Radiation Protection Program (Albuquerque, New Mexico). She has worked in decontamination and decommissioning, occupational external and internal dosimetry, radiological operations support, radiation protection policy and requirements management, and nuclear incident response.

Sarah is currently a principal health physicist at Sandia National Laboratories. In her free time, she enjoys genealogy, hiking, and exploring the state of New Mexico with her husband and their 6-year-old son.

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Janet Gutiérrez (State of Texas Chapter President 2012–2013)

Dr. Janet Gutiérrez has over 20 years of experience working in radiation protection. She is the radiation safety program manager within the Environmental Health & Safety department of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth). She is also the radiation safety officer of UT Physicians, which is the university's clinical practice plan. She supports two radioactive material permits (broad scope for the research and medical use of radioactive materials and medical radioactive materials permit) and the medical and research uses of x rays and lasers at UTHealth and UT Physicians.

In 1995, Janet became a student member of both the State of Texas Chapter of the Health Physics Society (STC-HPS; previously named South Texas Chapter) and the HPS. The STC-HPS has expanded more recently to encompass the entire state of Texas. She has been a full member of the HPS since 2002. She has served various roles within the STC-HPS, including as president from 2012 to 2013, Nominations Committee chair from 1999 to 2001, and Public Relations Committee chair from 2013 to 2018. She even provided a salute to the STC-HPS presidents in an STC-HPS Billet article. She also received an HPS Volunteer of the Year award in 2002 for outstanding service. Most recently, Janet served as secretary (2018–2019) and director (2020) for the American Academy of Health Physics (AAHP) Executive Committee.

Janet is a member of high distinction within the STC-HPS and is a remarkable example of leadership and volunteering for the profession. She has served as a judge for the local Science and Engineering Fair of Houston on and off for 20 years, representing the STC-HPS. She has enjoyed working with other women and men through the years in the health physics profession and within the STC-HPS and AAHP.

Janet has demonstrated academic and professional achievement through the years. After earning her bachelor's degree in radiological health engineering from Texas A&M University, she earned her master of science in industrial hygiene and a doctorate of public health in occupational health from the UTHealth School of Public Health. She is also a certified health physicist and has coauthored nine peer-reviewed articles (most in Health Physics) and one book chapter. She is currently in pursuit of the 10th peer-reviewed article. Almost all of her achievements were remarkably completed while she was working full-time and raising two wonderful children.

In her free time, Janet enjoys time with her family, photography, and walks in the park.

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Kris Hyatt (Rio Grande Chapter President 2018–2019)

Kris Hyatt has over 15 years of experience working in radiation protection, including emergency response and weapons test engineering. She is currently working at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for the Environmental Protection and Compliance Division.

Kris has been a member of the HPS for seven years and is a key member of the Rio Grande Chapter of the HPS (RGCHPS). The RGCHPS, located in the state of New Mexico and founded in 1962, represents professionals working in government, national laboratories, universities, and medical facilities or as consultants, among others. Kris was president-elect (2017–2018), president (2018–2019), and past president (2019–2024) of the RGCHPS.

Kris is the type of member any local HPS chapter would be honored to have, as she has set a great example of leadership and boldness. In fact, she has inspired and encouraged other women to be actively involved in the chapter. After Kris, three women (Sarah Goke, Christine Bullock, and Alexandra Robinson) assumed the presidential position within the RGCHPS in 2019, 2020, and 2021 respectively.

"I am pleased to see that, for four years in a row now, incredibly talented women accepted the challenge to serve as president of the Rio Grande Chapter of the HPS," she said.

Kris' motivation and determination are inspiring, as she completed her master's degree in nuclear engineering at the University of Texas at Austin in December of 2022. While working full-time in the Radioactive Air Emissions Management Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory, she was able to complete her master's in two years. Additionally, she is now working towards CHP certification.

In her free time, Kris enjoys traveling, reading, and hiking.

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Nisy E. Ipe (Northern California Chapter President 2006–2007)

Nisy Elizabeth Ipe, PhD, CHP, has an MS degree in physics from Madras University, India, and a PhD degree in health physics from Purdue University, Indiana. She is certified by the American Academy of Health Physics. She worked at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) National Laboratory for 16 years, where she was also the head of the Radiation Physics Department and was the site radiation safety officer (RSO). Her work involved shielding designs and calculations, radiation measurements, radiation safety for radiation producing devices, review of interlocks and safety systems, safety procedures, and training. She was responsible for the shielding design and radiological aspects of various projects including the Stanford Linear Collider's SLAC Large Detector and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory 3 GeV Injector and Beamlines. As RSO, she served on the Radiation Safety Committee, recommended internal policies, reviewed US Department of Energy orders, approved minor changes in the personnel protection system, reviewed dosimetry data, and established and enforced radiation policies, procedures, and training requirements.

While at SLAC, Nisy was sent to the 7 GeV Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, to help in the shielding design of the new synchrotron radiation beamlines. she also did a brief stint at the Centre for Ionizing Radiation Metrology, National Physical Laboratory in the UK, where she determined calibration and k_ch factors (for in use in radiotherapy dosimetry protocols) for various ionization chambers. Her research interests included neutron dosimetry, high-level dosimetry, and the characterization of dosimeters for low-energy x rays. She has numerous publications and has given lectures at various national and international conferences.

In 2001, Nisy launched her consulting business, which provides services in shielding design, dosimetry, radiation protection, expert witness for radiation producing machines, particle accelerators, and radioactive sources in medicine, research, and industry. She is an expert in electron, photon, proton, ion, and neutron shielding. She has taught linear accelerator shielding, proton and particle therapy shielding, and radiation survey courses at American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) and American College of Medical Physics annual meetings, the SEAAPM Symposium, AAPM Summer Schools, the Health Physics Society (HPS) Professional Enrichment Program, the California Campus Radiation Safety Officers Meeting, Particle Therapy Cooperative Group (PTCOG) Educational Workshops, the International Organization of Medical Physics, the International Radiation Protection Association, and various national and international conferences.

She wrote the section on "Neutron Monitoring for Radiotherapy Facilities" in National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements Report No. 151, Structural Shielding Design and Evaluation for Megavoltage X- and Gamma-Ray Radiotherapy Facilities (2006). She was the task group chair for PTCOG Report 1: Shielding and Radiation Safety for Charged Particle Therapy Facilities (2010) and wrote chapters on shielding and dosimetry in the books Proton Therapy Physics (2 editions, 2012, 2020), Principles and Practice of Proton Beam Therapy (2015), and Radiation Therapy Dosimetry, A Practical Handbook (2021).

Nisy has served on various scientific, technical, and review committees for organizations such as the International Solid State Dosimetry Organization, American Nuclear Society (ANS), and International Conference on Radiation Shielding and for the ANS Topical Meeting of Radiation Protection and Shielding Division. She was a pioneering member in the organization and establishment of the Specialists Meeting on Shielding Aspects of Accelerators, Targets, and Irradiation Facilities and has served on its organizing and scientific committees (1992–2001).

Nisy was an associate editor of the Health Physics Journal (1992–2018) and was the founder and editor of the first International Accelerator Radiological Protection Email Newsletter (1992). She served as president of the Northern California Chapter of the HPS (2006–2007) and as president of the HPS Accelerator Section (1994–1995). She also provides support in response to questions for the HPS Ask the Experts team (2004–present).

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Korressa Lee (Baltimore-Washington Chapter President 2022–2023)

Korressa Lee is a health physicist through training and on-the-job experiences. She has a bachelor's degree in physics from South Carolina State University and a master's degree in physics/material science from Fisk University. She began her career as a trained physicist working on research grants with Henry Ford Medical System, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Medical University of South Carolina. Through these experiences, she developed a deep interest in radiotracers and targeted therapies. Her experience with regulations, decommissioning, and industrial instrumentation was developed during her tenure as a health physicist with Radiation Service Organization. Korressa is currently a health physicist at the National Institutes of Health where she supports radioactive material involved in research across different spectrums. She has been an active member of the Baltimore-Washington Chapter of the Health Physics Society for over seven years. She has served as secretary, president-elect, and now as president (2022–2023).

Korressa's focus continues to be to encourage and promote the recruitment of new chapter members and motivate established members to become more active in chapter projects. She also wants to focus on expanding the outreach programs to have a deeper impact in all the areas the chapter was launched to serve—Baltimore, Washington, and Northern Virginia.

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Bridget Smith (San Diego Chapter Secretary 2018–2025)

Bridget Smith is the cofounder of Class7Training LLC, a consulting and training company that provides online shipment of radioactive materials training and health physics consulting, and is an instructor for Nevada Technical Associates. She studied radiation protection under Dr. Eric Goldin at Mira Costa College. She has been a member of the San Diego Chapter of the Health Physics Society (HPS) since 2009.

Bridget enjoys her work as a technical instructor for Nevada Technical Associates. She has been offering radiation safety officer, shipment of radioactive material, and authorized user training throughout the United States for the past 10 years. She has enjoyed presenting authorized user training at a gold mine, a cement plant, a university, and a radiation instrument design and manufacturing company. Bridget is proud to train the next generation of radiation safety officers (RSO) who work in education, industry, research, manufacturing, medicine, the military, and emergency response. Bridget's mission as an educator is to help her students get excited about the use of radioactive material for the public good, feel comfortable and confident working with radiation sources, have a deep understanding of the radioactive materials regulations, and be prepared for their work as RSOs or radiation users.

Bridget is excited to support San Diego radiation safety professionals and health physicists as secretary of the San Diego Chapter of the HPS. Some of her favorite San Diego HPS events have included a tour of the San Onofre power plant in decommissioning and talks on everything from the decommissioning of nuclear gauges to evaluating AI as a tool for the practice of health physics. She enjoys reuniting with former students as well as gaining new insights into the practice of health physics that she can share with future students. Bridget constantly uses the HPS website in her classes and is grateful that it is available to RSOs as a resource. She always encourages the future RSOs she trains to join their local chapter for support and resources.

Posted 20 March 2025

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HPS Committees

Lainy Cochran (Membership Committee Chair 2020–2023)

Lainy Cochran is a health physicist at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Since starting in 2016, her work has focused primarily on advancing the radiological dose assessment capability for the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center and serving as a responder for the Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration Nuclear Emergency Support Team. Lainy holds a BS in radiological health engineering and an MS in nuclear engineering from Texas A&M University. She received her American Board of Health Physics certification in 2021.

Lainy joined the Health Physics Society (HPS) as a student and is passionate about ensuring that anyone with an interest in radiation protection feels welcome in the Society. Lainy has a strong record of professional service in the radiation protection field, including being an advocate for women in nuclear sciences. She is a member of the HPS Early Career Professionals Section, Homeland Security and Emergency Response Section, and Women in Radiation Protection Section and is the chair of the HPS Membership Committee. Additionally, she is a member of the US Women in Nuclear, where until recently she was responsible for maintaining the US Women in Nuclear website.

Lainy interned at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, for a year (2013–2014) and is a recipient of a prestigious fellowship from the HPS, the Robert Gardner Memorial Fellowship (2014). She has worked at or visited several nuclear power plants, including two outside of the country (Austria and Japan). Lainy had the opportunity to visit Japan's nuclear fuel and reactor facilities as part of the 2016 Nuclear Facilities Experience at Texas A&M.

Lainy is currently involved in a variety of research projects, including a collaboration between SNL and Georgia Tech University.

In her free time, Lainy enjoys spending time with her friends and family in the beautiful New Mexico outdoors.

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Sara Dumit (Public Information Committee Chair 2023–2025)

Dr. Sara Dumit is a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and a Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting Young Scientist (alumna: 2022 and 2021). She earned her PhD in pharmaceutical sciences from Washington State University, with doctoral research work conducted at the United States Transuranium and Uranium Registries (USTUR). Her postdoctoral research work was completed at LANL's Internal Dosimetry Group, Radiation Protection Division.

Nationally, Sara serves as an associate editor for the Health Physics Journal, chair of the Public Information Committee of the Health Physics Society (HPS), and secretary/treasurer of the HPS Early-Career Professionals Section. She is a consultant for ANSI HPS N13.64 "Medical Management of Radiologically Contaminated Wounds" and a member of ANSI HPS N13.14 "Tritium Bioassay Standard." She serves as a member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) Program Area Committee (PAC) 7 "Radiation Education, Risk Communication, and Outreach," as an official liaison from PAC 7 to PAC 6 "Radiation Measurements and Dosimetry," and as a member of NCRP Scientific Committee 6-13: "Methods and Models for Estimating Organ Doses From Intakes of Radium." She also serves as a guest lecturer on Internal Dosimetry at Northern New Mexico College and as an ad hoc reviewer for various scientific journals.

Internationally, Sara serves as a member of the European Radiation Dosimetry Group (EURADOS) Working Group 7 on Internal Dosimetry, including being a member of both task groups "Biokinetic Modeling of DTPA Therapy" and "Internal Dosimetry in Case of Emergency." She was invited as a member of the "EURADOS/REMPAN Wound Contamination Project: Monitoring, Dosimetry and Clinical Management of Internal Contamination Through Wounds" for the World Health Organization (WHO)/Radiation Emergency Medical Preparedness and Assistance Network (REMPAN). Furthermore, she is a member-mentee of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) Task Group 121: "Effects of Ionising Radiation Exposure in Offspring and Next Generations," a member-intern of the ICRP's Scientific Secretariat, and a member of the ICRP Official Delegation to the 71st United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) Session.

Sara has authored and coauthored over 50 scientific publications and abstracts on radiation protection topics and has presented her research over 50 times (nationally and internationally), including as an invited speaker at ICRP, HPS, EURADOS, Gordon Research Conference (GRC), and WHO-REMPAN meetings.

Sara was awarded the 2022 Elda E. Anderson Award of the HPS, the 2022 John D. Boice, Jr., Young Investigator Award of the NCRP, and the 2024 Carl Storm Underrepresented Minority Fellowship from the GRC. Moreover, Sara was selected by the HPS as the United States nominee for the 2024 IRPA Young Professional Award in Radiation Protection and was selected as a member of the HPS Official Delegation to the IRPA 16 International Congress (2024–2028).

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Candace Krout (Public Information Committee Deputy Chair 2021–2023)

Candace Krout is a medical health physicist at Einstein/Jefferson health care network and obtained her undergraduate degree at Bloomsburg University in health physics with a minor in psychology in the spring of 2018. While pursuing her undergraduate degree, Candace completed a medical health physics internship at Geisinger Medical Center, which solidified this career path for her. She accredits Bloomsburg University's program with providing a solid foundation for her career with the knowledge, support, and opportunities the health physics (now radiation sciences) program provided. Her career began at Mount Sinai Hospital as a radiation safety specialist.

Mount Sinai Hospital introduced Candace to laser safety while she grasped a deeper knowledge of the field—paired with the exploration of Manhattan, New York. Her first experience with the Health Physics Society (HPS) was getting involved with the mentor and mentee program offered by the HPS, which her advisors, Dr. Nazafarin Fallahian and Dr. David Simpson, encouraged students to join. Candace attended her first HPS annual meeting in July of 2018 on a travel grant to present her summer research on CountsPro. She has taken the opportunity to get involved with the HPS, since she believes being involved is a great way to obtain a deeper understanding of the field while giving back.

Locally, Candace is involved with the Delaware Valley for Radiation Specialists (DVSRS), as a webmaster and director at large. She began her HPS service by volunteering with the Public Information Committee (PIC) and helping with the goal of increasing social media presence. Candace is part of the HPS Early Career Professionals Section, holding the position of secretary/treasurer (2021–2023). Within the social media subcommittee of PIC, Candace is the deputy chair. She recently joined Gwynedd Mercy University as an adjunct faculty member and is currently teaching applied radiation physics.

Candace has a passion for radiation safety and increasing her knowledge of radiation. Outside of the study of radiation, Candace enjoys spending time with friends and family, exploring nature and/or new areas, trying new gym classes, and playing the clarinet.

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Ran Angela Meng (Public Information Committee Chair 2025–2027)

Ran Angela Meng is the director of the research radiation safety program at Columbia University. She has a BS in biophysics and an MS in medical physics from Columbia University. She published a paper on MRI research in Academic Radiology during her undergraduate study and presented her findings at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Imaging and the American Physical Society. She has been a member of the Health Physics Society (HPS), the American Academy of Health Physics, and the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. She became a certified health physicist in 2018. Angela currently chairs the Public Information Committee of the HPS. She has presented at the HPS annual meetings and regional chapter meetings. She is pursuing a DrPH degree at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

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Nazia Zakir (Rules Committee Chair 2018)

Nazia Zakir provides leadership and vision in managing Argonne's environment, safety, and health (ESH) initiatives to support the laboratory's mission and enable exemplary safety performance. She leads a laboratory-wide ESH program encompassing best practices, certifications, standards, guidance, procedures, and management systems. This includes radiological protection and accelerator safety. She also manages the Health and Wellness Program, which includes the Occupational Medical Clinic. Just recently, Work Planning and Control has realigned under ESH and will be under Nazia's leadership.

Nazia is passionate about creating inviting workplaces and leading professional development across teams. She is committed to building collaborative and supportive work environments and regularly participates in mentoring programs. Before going to Argonne in September 2022, Nazia led strategy and compliance within infrastructure and sustainability at the Georgia Institute of Technology (GT), to advance safety programs and policies to support GT's innovative research. During her 20-year career at the institute, Nazia worked as a health physicist, radiation safety officer, and assistant vice president of EHS, and she held several positions related to research safety, environmental health and safety, and facilities. She led significant transformations of GT's facilities and safety culture and worked with campus leaders to coordinate their COVID-19 response.

In her service to the Health Physics Society (HPS), Nazia has been Rules Committee Chair and Parliamentarian (2018), a member of the Continuing Education Committee (2008) and the Society Support Committee (2013), and president of the Atlanta Chapter (2015). She was chair of the Advocacy Council of the Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association and was part of audit teams that examined the National High Magnetic Field Lab and the University of Maryland Reactor.

Nazia earned a bachelor's degree in biological sciences and a master's degree in environmental sciences from Rutgers University. She also worked at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory and Teledyne Isotopes.

Posted 20 March 2025

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HPS Sections

Amanda Anderson (Environmental/Radon Section Past President 2020–2021)

Amanda Anderson is a nuclear safety and radiation protection specialist in the Office of the Chief of Nuclear Safety (CNS), Office of Environmental Management (EM), US Department of Energy (DOE). Amanda also represents the United States in the Arctic Council Air Monitoring and Assessment Radioactivity experts group and DOE EM in the Multi-Agency Survey and Site Investigation Manual (MARSSIM) workgroup. She is a certified health physicist and past president of the Health Physics Society (HPS) Environmental/Radon Section (2020–2021).

Since joining the DOE in 2008, Amanda has served as Outreach Technical Program Director, Office of Enterprise Assessments, the Team Lead in the Departmental Representative’s Office to the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB), and as a health physicist in the Office of Health, Safety, and Security. She previously served in the United States Navy as a helicopter pilot and a radiation health officer from 1994 to 2008. Amanda holds a BS degree in nuclear engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MS degree in radiological health sciences from Colorado State University.

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Amber Bolen (Women in Radiation Protection Section Secretary-Elect 2024–2025)

Amber Bolen's love for the health physics profession was born when she was an undergraduate student at Francis Marion University. Dr. David Peterson, Dr. Derek Jokisch, and Dr. Philip Fulmer were her professors and mentors during her time there and they all uniquely impacted her journey to becoming a health physicist. This love was further cultivated while working a summer internship, funded through ORISE, at the Department of Energy Savannah River Site. She had the unique opportunity to work with a renowned gamma spectroscopy expert characterizing many interesting items, and she was hooked! As a student, she attended Health Physics Society (HPS) North Carolina Chapter meetings, as well as two national HPS meetings. She even had the chance to present her summer internship research on the effect of dust loading on glass fiber and PTFE filters in alpha spectroscopy at a North Carolina Chapter meeting and a national HPS meeting.

After college, Amber went to work as an internal dosimetrist at Savannah River Site and had many opportunities to learn new things and see multiple parts of the site. In the years she was employed there, she was able to work in external and internal dosimetry and operational health physics in a chemical separations plant, a level-1 plutonium storage facility, a mothballed reactor, and the tritium complex. She also had the honor of being one of the youngest people to join the Region 3 Radiological Assistance Program (RAP) as a scientist, which allowed her to take part in multiple high-level emergency response training drills, as well as special events like the Super Bowl, Nascar races, and Blue Angels air shows. She was even a member of the Aerial Measurement Team, a special RAP team duty that involved operating helicopter and fixed wing-based gamma spectroscopy equipment. She also had the chance to work on a rotational assignment in the human resources department as a talent management specialist, developing and performing leadership training, performance management, and mentoring programs.

After her time at Savannah River Site, Amber and her family had the opportunity to move to Dothan, Alabama, where she worked as a health physicist at the Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Generating Station. In this position, she was able to work several refueling outages and learn many of the ins and outs of nuclear power generation.

From there, her family's journey brought her to Amarillo, Texas, where she worked for the State of Texas Department of State Health Services as a health physicist and emergency response liaison to Pantex. In this position, she was able to learn more about nuclear emergency response, plume modeling, and the coordination of state, local, and national government during these types of emergencies.

After moving to Wilmington, Amber then shifted gears in her career and began working as a tutor for high school and college math and science students, as well as working in recruiting for the nuclear industry, while homeschooling her two children. During this time, she completed her MS in human resources training and development.

A few years later, an opening to work for NV5-Dade Moeller as a dose reconstructionist presented itself. Amber met Dade Moeller on several occasions as a college student and was very inspired by his passion for the field of health physics. She had always hoped to be able to go to work for his company and was very excited (and humbled) to be offered the position. She has been working as a dose reconstructor since 2022 and finds the work to be challenging but rewarding. In 2024, Amber obtained both her certified health physicist (CHP) and her registered radiation protection technologist (RRPT) certifications.

Posted 25 March 2025

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Lisa Manglass (Environmental/Radon Section President 2019–2022)

Dr. Lisa Manglass is an assistant professor of physics at Francis Marion University. She attended the Clemson University PhD program in environmental engineering and earth sciences (health physics focus). Prior to her doctorate work, Lisa worked for SENES and Arcadis consultants as an environmental health physics consultant from 2009 to 2016. As a consultant, she worked all over the United States and Canada and primarily focused on NORM/TENORM disposal and decommissioning efforts, uranium recovery, large and small area radiological characterization, dose-based radiological risk assessment, and compliance/conformance auditing. She holds an MS in radiological health sciences from Colorado State University and a BS in physics from the University of Georgia.

For the Health Physics Society (HPS), Lisa has served as a board member of the Environment and Radon Section (2017–2020), secretary of the Central Rocky Mountain Chapter (2011–2016), secretary of the Clemson University Chapter (2016–2017), and secretary of the Colorado State University Chapter (2008–2009). She also serves as a judge and board member for the Science Ambassador Scholarship program, a private college scholarship fund that provides several scholarships, including a "full ride" scholarship, to young women interested in improving the field of scientific communication through their work. Lisa is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion in the HPS and was an invited panelist at the 2020 HPS Virtual Workshop's Special Session on Diversity & Inclusion, was a lead author of the HPS Diversity Equity and Inclusion Task Force Report, and planned the HPS's first special session on environmental justice in 2021.

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Rachel Pope Nichols (Women in Radiation Protection Section President 2022–2024)

Rachel Pope Nichols has a BS in chemistry (2014) and an MS in environmental engineering and science (2017) with a concentration in environmental health physics from Clemson University. After graduating, she began working at the University of Missouri Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) Department as a health physicist. In 2022, Rachel became a certified health physicist (CHP) through the American Board of Health Physics. She was also certified as an associate safety professional in 2021 and hopes to become a certified safety professional in the near future. As of 2023, Rachel is now the associate radiation safety officer at the University of Missouri, overseeing university, medical, and veterinary uses. Through her work with EHS, she has given presentations at multiple conferences on establishing baselines for veterinary medicine radiation safety programs.

Recently, Rachel received the great honor of being awarded the 2022 Young Scientist Award from the International Radiation Protection Association (IRPA) at the North American Regional Congress in St Louis, Missouri.

Rachel enjoys meeting new people and is a born leader—she is strongly involved with the Health Physics Society (HPS), serving in a variety of capacities such as a member of the Program Committee, president of the Women in Radiation Protection Section (WiRP), past president of the Greater St. Louis Chapter, and director of the Early Career Professionals Section (ECP). Rachel has organized and chaired several HPS events, including the 2022 special sessions of the WiRP and ECP (both held at the 67th Annual Meeting of the HPS in Spokane, Washington), was the Local Arrangements Committee chair of the HPS-IRPA North American Regional Congress in 2022, and was the Task Force chair for the 2nd Annual HPS Winter Workshop in Internal Dosimetry at Oregon State University in 2023.

She is thankful for all the opportunities the HPS has given her, especially in meeting all the amazing people and mentors whom she would have never known without becoming involved.

In her spare time, Rachel is an avid ceramist and gardener. She also loves hanging out with her health physicist husband and their grumble of pugs, Alfie, Bruce, and Gus Gus.

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Caitlin Root (AIRRS Section Secretary/Treasurer 2020–2023)

Caitlin Root is a safety advisor at Yale University in the Office of Environmental Health and Safety. She earned her master's degree from Clemson University in environmental health physics and her bachelor's degree in health physics from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania. Her first position was as a laboratory safety specialist at Princeton University in the Office of Environmental Health and Safety. She moved down to Tennessee to become a health physicist at Oak Ridge Associated Universities in the Professional Training Programs and taught health physics courses to various customers before moving on to Yale University.

Caitlin credits her success in health physics to her university and internship mentors, Dr. David Simpson (Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania), Dr. Nicole Martinez (Clemson University), and Tammy Stemen (Yale University), all of whom supported and encouraged her to participate and become involved with the Health Physics Society and other young professionals. She hopes to continue encouraging younger people to join our field and make them feel comfortable and accepted within the Society and amongst other health physicists. Caitlin hopes to become a mentor herself to young health physicists, much like her role models before.

In her free time, Caitlin enjoys traveling, reading, and hiking.

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HPS Student Branches

Annabelle Hoffert (Purdue Student Branch Vice President 2023–2024)

Annabelle Hoffert had a love for math and challenging coursework starting at a young age. As she began to take more challenging AP classes in high school, this love only grew. Thinking she might follow in the steps of her mother pursuing a bachelor's in psychology, she realized the thing she truly appreciated was neurology and the brain-body connection. This led her to apply to Purdue University's chemical biology and biochemistry major.

Beginning classes that fall, she enjoyed the rigor of her coursework but felt there was a better career path than those available to the major. A conversation with a friend about these concerns led to information about the pre-medical physics program. Annabelle switched to this program her second semester at Purdue. She started research in medical imaging that fall. During this time, she took a class on different careers in the health and human sciences field. It was through this class that she learned about her now research professor of two years. His work includes environmental health physics. She went on to interview him for a class assignment and ended up switching to the health physics major and his research lab that spring.

Since being in health physics, Annabelle's love for radiation protection has only grown. Her background in biochemistry gave her an appreciation for the role that topics like atomic structures, electron interactions, and biological effects play in her current coursework.

Annabelle had the privilege of interning for Oak Ridge National Lab under the Technical and Professional Internships program in the summer of 2024. This was an incredible experience for her in every facet of her career from networking to training to assisting in experiments and so much more. She had an amazing mentor in Dr. Scott Schwahn, who answered her many questions, introduced her to many talented people at the lab and in the health physics field, and shared lots of advice, constructive criticism, and encouragement.

Her final presentation included techniques the lab is perfecting to better categorize radioactive material to reduce cost of waste processing, public perception of nuclear and ways to address and correct it, her experience attending her first Health Physics Society conference, and ways for ORNL interns to better form community and serve the east Tennessee area. She hopes to continue her work in disseminating accurate nuclear information to the public to better the lives of many by breaking down the scary stigma of radiation and encouraging use of nuclear energy. As the great Marie Curie put it, "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Now is the time to understand more, so that we may fear less."

Annabelle has received multiple scholarships, including the Eli Lilly and Company Health Physics and Robert R. Landolt Radiological Health scholarships. She will graduate with a bachelor's from Purdue in May of 2026. In hopes to set herself up for a long and successful career, she plans to attend graduate school for her master's in health physics. She has many different interests within the field and is excited to see where those take her.

In her free time, Annabelle loves to travel, dance, volunteer with her church, help out on her family farm, and spend time with friends and family. She would like to thank all the people who have shown their support thus far, ranging from research work with professors to lunch conversations with ORNL professionals, and is excited to continue on this journey in health physics!

Posted 25 March 2025

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Ask the Experts

Emily Caffrey (Editor in Chief 2019–present)

Dr. Emily Caffrey is the program director and an assistant professor for the University of Alabama at Birmingham Master's in Health Physics Program. She has a BS in nuclear engineering and a PhD in radiation health physics and statistics from Oregon State University (OSU). Her technical expertise is in ionizing radiation dosimetry and statistics. She obtained the title of certified health physicist (CHP) from the American Board of Health Physics in 2021.

Emily is a member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. She is very active in the Health Physics Society (HPS), serving as the editor in chief of "Ask the Experts"—the Society's most successful public information and outreach endeavor, which reaches over 1.5 million individuals annually. Emily also serves on the HPS Program Committee, which develops and manages the technical program of the Society's meetings, and on the American Academy of Health Physics Communications Committee. She is the past chair of the HPS Public Information Committee (PIC), founder of the HPS Social Media Sub-Committee of the PIC, and cofounder of the HPS Women in Radiation Protection celebratory web page.

Emily is a recipient of the HPS Elda E. Anderson award for outstanding early career health physicists. In 2019, she was selected as one of 10 recipients of Oregon State's Council of Outstanding Early Career Engineers. This award is reserved for OSU alumni who have distinguished themselves through professional practice and service to OSU, the profession, or society at large.

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Genevieve Roessler (Editor in Chief 1999–2019)

Dr. Genevieve Roessler began the Health Physics Society (HPS) Ask the Experts (ATE) feature when she helped create the HPS website in 1999. Roessler and Webmaster Fred Baes felt ATE would be a good way for the HPS to reach members of the public with information about radiation safety and protection. ATE has become one of the most visited areas of the HPS website, answering over 14,600 questions since its inception. More information on ATE can be found in "HPS Ask the Experts: The Most Intriguing Questions and Answers," Gen's 2019 National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) Thomas S. Tenforde Topical Lecture.

Gen earned a BA in mathematics from Jacksonville University in Florida and an MS in radiation biophysics and a PhD in radiological engineering from the University of Florida. A noted faculty member in the Department of Nuclear Engineering Sciences at the University of Florida for 22 years, Gen was head of health physics and medical physics.

Among her numerous accomplishments, Gen is a past president of the HPS and a former editor in chief of Health Physics (1982–1988), Health Physics News (1992–2010), and the HPS website (1999–2011). Gen retired as the editor in chief of ATE in 2019. She has received the HPS Founders Award and Distinguished Public Service Award and is also a life member and fellow of the HPS. She was elected as a member of the NCRP in 1990 and became a Distinguished Emeritus Member in 2003.

Gen serves on the National Institutes of Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health and has served on many advisory committees including the US Department of Energy (DOE) Health and Environmental Research Advisory Committee; Oak Ridge National Laboratory Health and Safety Research Division Advisory Committee; DOE Senior Technical Review Group for the Disposition of Weapons Grade Plutonium; US Environmental Protection Agency Radiation Advisory Committee, Science Advisory Board; Hanford Environmental Dose Reconstruction Project Technical Steering Panel; and National Cancer Institute Binational Advisory Group, Chernobyl Health Effects Study.

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HPS Publications

Deanna Baker (Health Physics Journal Editorial Assistant 1994–present)

Deanna Baker is the editorial assistant for Health Physics, the official Journal of the Health Physics Society. She started working for the Journal in 1994 while she was working at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, back when Ken Miller was named editor in chief. This year (2023) marks her 29th year working for Health Physics. In 2009, she took over as managing editor for Operational Radiation Safety, a separate Journal under Health Physics, which focuses on and publishes operational topics articles. Deanna has a BA in English from Elizabethtown College. She resides near Hershey, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Doug. They have two children, Evan (25) and Olivia (23).

In her leisure time, Deanna enjoys yoga, reading, hiking, and spending time with friends and family and her 2 pups.

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Mary Walchuk (Health Physics Society News Editor 1993–present)

Mary Walchuk is the Health Physics Society (HPS) news editor and has been working for the HPS for over 30 years. She has a BA in mass communications from Mankato State University in Minnesota.

Mary first worked for the HPS in 1985 as a temporary assistant to the Health Physics Journal, providing help after a fire at the publisher required Journal staff to collect new hard copies of the papers that had been burned (before everything was kept in computer files). She then returned in 1993 to take on a permanent position with the HPS newsletter as a copy editor and feature-story writer. She has taken on many roles over the years, including participating in the creation and growth of the HPS website. Now, as news editor, she gathers and posts news items on the HPS website, puts together the Health Physics News twice-monthly e-newsletter, posts information and videos on the website, and edits website pages as they are created or updated. Mary also coordinates the Web Operations activities for the HPS Publications Booth at annual meetings, including organizing the ever-popular book drawing.

Mary and her husband Chris live in Minnesota and have four children, three daughters-in-law, and four grandchildren. She is happiest when she is hanging out with family and friends, taking walks in nature, and creating jewelry and colorful art.

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