About RSB

National Center for Environmental Health
Radiation Studies Branch
Radiation Studies Branch | NCEH | Contact Us

About the Radiation Studies Branch

Radiation Studies Branch in Spanish
Rama de Estudios de Radiación

As part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) plays a unique role in identifying potentially harmful environmental exposures and in quantifying health risks associated with these exposures. NCEH’s Radiation Studies Branch works to identify the public health risks and potential human health effects from environmental exposures to ionizing radiation and associated toxicants.

We have structured the Radiation Studies Branch to foster an interdisciplinary approach that combines exposure analysis, epidemiology, community involvement, risk analysis, and risk communication in all our radiation-related public health activities.

Furthermore, we feel it is important to earn the public’s trust in our study designs and results. We ensure that the public is involved in our decision-making and review processes, provide education and training activities for affected communities, and offer educational outreach to culturally diverse and vulnerable populations.

Radiation Studies Branch

Chief -- James M. Smith, Ph.D.

Deputy Chief -- Mike Donnelly

Chief, Epidemiology Section -- Paul Garbe, D.V.M., M.P.H.

Chief, Environmental Dosimetry Section -- Charles Miller, Ph.D.

Acting Chief, Risk Analysis & Communication Section -- Judy Qualters, Ph.D.

Chief, Extramural Activities Section -- Paul Renard

Expanding the Scientific Knowledge Base
Through our research, we hope to learn more about the potential human health effects associated with exposure to radiation and other energy-related toxicants. At the same time, we believe that we can also address the concerns of affected communities. We aim to achieve both of these goals by engaging the public in the design and conduct of the studies we carry out within their communities, by forming global partnerships with other leading radiation research organizations, and by ensuring rigorous scientific peer review of our work.

We endeavor to:

Address public health concerns about exposures to ionizing radiation
Learn more about radiation health effects
Increase the capability to detect radiation-related cancers and other radiation-related diseases early or to prevent them from occurring

The Radiation Studies Branch conducts participatory research that is as attentive to the needs and desires of affected community residents as it is to the government and its researchers.

Program Goal

Plan and conduct health research that addresses the public’s concerns about the human health effects of exposure to ionizing radiation and associated toxicants.

Program Structure

The emphasis on an interdisciplinary approach is highlighted by the structure of the Radiation Studies Branch. To accomplish our program goal, we seek to create an interdisciplinary and participatory research approach whereby epidemiology, environmental health, exposure assessment and dosimetry, health education, and community involvement efforts are coordinated in an effort to answer questions about the potential public health effects of radiation exposures.

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After a 6-year dose reconstruction project conducted at the former Fernald Feed Materials Production Center in Fernald, Ohio, Radiation Studies Branch personnel informed community members who lived near the facility what their estimated radiation doses were from the facility’s 38 years of operations (1951 - 1988). In keeping with our open, public process, we publicized the draft findings at the same time they were submitted for scientific peer review — thus ensuring that the public was fully involved in the review process.

Areas of Expertise

We work with our science and public health partners to provide the public with information on the magnitude of and potential health effects from radiation exposure. For example, working with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), we developed the nationally circulated public guide, A Citizen’s Guide to Radon. We conduct research and provide technical assistance in the following areas:

Radiation Dosimetry
Radiation Epidemiology
Radiation Risk Analysis and Risk Communication

We also provide technical assistance to support dose reconstruction projects and epidemiologic studies conducted by state and local health departments. To date we have worked with Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, and Tennessee. We have also provided technical assistance to the U.S. State Department on radiation exposure issues in the former Soviet Union.

Radiation Studies Branch Energy-Related Health Research Program

Our largest program is the Energy-Related Health Research Program. This program was specifically set up to address the health effects associated with environmental radiation exposures from former nuclear weapons production facilities in the United States. Our work in this area began in the late 1980s, when the Department of Energy began releasing previously classified files — documents that recounted cold war operations within the U.S. government’s nuclear weapons complex.

A review of these documents confirmed that these activities exposed workers and nearby communities to hazardous substances and that, after many years of chronic exposure, some of these workers and area residents may have suffered adverse health effects.

In December 1990, the responsibility for conducting and managing epidemiologic research at designated Nuclear Weapons Complex sites and for studying other energy-related issues was transferred from the Department of Energy to the Department of Health and Human Services. The Department of Health and Human Services designated CDC as the lead agency for these activities.

Investigating the Legacy of the Cold War

For nearly a decade since these activities were made public, area residents, workers, scientists, activists, and governmental officials have been delving into historical records — searching for information that can help them estimate the amount and type of environmental and occupational radiation exposure that workers and area residents received during nearly 50 years of nuclear weapons complex operations. In addition, today’s clean-up of U.S. nuclear weapons facilities poses additional environmental and occupational-health problems that must be addressed.

In 1990, a Memorandum of Understanding between the Department of Energy and the Department of Health and Human Services (which was renewed in 1996) transferred management of ongoing and future epidemiologic studies of the health effects resulting from the operation of past nuclear weapons facilities to the Department of Health and Human Services. The CDC was given the lead for implementing the Memorandum of Understanding. Within CDC, NCEH was assigned the administrative lead and responsibilities for conducting environmental dose reconstructions and epidemiologic studies on affected communities surrounding these sites. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has responsibility for all occupational health research studies within the program.

Radiation Studies Branch | NCEH | Contact Us

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This page last reviewed August 1, 2001

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Center for Environmental Health
Radiation Studies Branch