FMU Physics hosts Russian health physics program manager

Francis Marion University’s Department of Physics hosted Barrett N. Fountos, manager of the United States Department of Energy’s Russian Health Studies program, for a talk to university students and staff Tuesday.

Fountos’ lecture was entitled “Overview of the Russian Health Studies Program and Summary of Key Research Findings.” The program, which began in 1994, provides a framework for cooperative study by United States and Russian scientists on the effects of radiation on health at former Soviet nuclear weapons production facilities.

Fountos is an epidemiologist with degrees from Case Western Reserve and Ohio State University. He’s managed the Russian Health Studies Program for the DOE since 2002.

Dr. Derek Jokisch, head of the FMU Physics Department, has served as a member of the U.S. research team, and traveled to Russia last year. Jokisch is one of just a handful of experts worldwide in the field of skeletal dosimetry, which uses complex calculations to measure radiation in bone tissue.