The William McAdams Outstanding Service Award is presented annually by the American Board of Health Physics (ABHP) to recognize and honor those individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of professionalism and health physics certification. This award is named for one of the “founding fathers” of the ABHP, William McAdams who, in 1958-59, exercised strong and dedicated efforts to identify the need for the ABHP, define the concept, organize the body, obtain the charter, and implement the initial certification program.

The award was first presented five years ago, on the 30th anniversary of the ABHP. The following individuals have been awarded the William McAdams Award in recognition of their contributions to certification and professionalism in health physics:

Jack Healy – 1989
H. Wade Patterson – 1990
Richard Bowers – 1991
Les Slaback – 1992
Ken Skrable – 1993

This year, we announce with pleasure the sixth recipient of the William McAdams Outstanding Service Award, Leroy F. Booth. For over 20 years now, Lee has been involved in the certification process and has made many contributions to the professional advancement of the field of health physics. From 1973 to 1975, as Director of the Baltimore-Washington Chapter Certification Exam Course, Lee helped develop the course content and direction. During the period from 1979 through 1983, Lee served on the Comprehensive Panel of Examiners where he served as Vice-Chair and Chair. IN 1984, he participated in the role delineation workshops designed to identify the CHP Domains of Practice and to ensure that the certification exam was a valid measure of health physicists' skills. Following this, Lee participated in establishment of the Part I Panel of Examiners. Lee was a director of the ABHP from 1988 through 1992, serving as the Secretary in 1989, and two years os Chairman of the Board. While on the Board and since, Lee has worked to develop a strong synergistic relationship between the Board and the Academy.

As a health physicist, Lee has made many contributions to health physics. Lee has authored numerous papers, presentations, and technical reports on various topics, including thermoluminescent dosimetry, whole body counting, microwave safety and contaminated site characterization studies. Lee served on the ANSI N343 Standards Committee from 1990 to 1993, and is Task Group Leader for the ASTM standard development committee for Performance of Field Measurements of Photon Spectra.

There can be but few persons within the field who have been more consistent and more productive in their devotion to advancement of the profession or more dedicated to the certification process. Hence, it is with great pride and appreciation that we recognize Leroy F. Booth, as this year's recipient of the William A. McAdams Outstanding Service Award.

E. Scott Medling, Chair, ABHP Awards Committee, Vice Chairman, ABHP
Ruth E. McBurney, Chairman, ABHP
Jim Turner, Past President, AAHP

The William McAdams Outstanding Service Award is presented each year by the American Board of Health Physics to recognize those individuals who have made important contributions to advancing the profession of health physics by encouraging its study through the certification process. The Award was established in 1989 in honor of one of the Board's founders, William McAdams. William McAdams provided leadership, energy, and vision to the Board during its formation. He was a member of the 1958 Certification Committee formed by the Health Physics Society to investigate the need for a Board. He then served as the Chair of the temporary ABHP formed in November, 1948, and as the first Chair of the inaugural board when it was formed in October, 1959. Today's recipient, and past recipients of the Award, have made similar noteworthy and significant contributions to the advancement of our profession and the certification process.

The Award was first presented in 1989 on the 30th anniversary of the ABHP. The six health physicists who have received the William McAdams Award are Jack Healy, 1989; H. Wade Patterson, 1990; Richard Bowers, 1991; Les Slaback, 1992; Ken Skrable, 1993, and Lee Booth, 1994.

Today I am very pleased to announce that William R. Casey is the recipient of the seventh William McAdams Outstanding Service Award. In making this award, the Board recognizes Bob Casey for this continuing and dedicated efforts in advancing the profession of health physics through certification. Bob's contributions to the certification process have a close parallel to those of William McAdams, as Bob provided dedicated and visionary leadership in another important formative period which led to the establishment of the American Academy of Health Physics.

Bob became a certified health physicist in 1974. He became active in the certification process shortly afterwards, joining the Comprehensive Panel of Examiners in 1976, and becoming Chair of that Panel in 1981. After completing his tenure with the Panel, he became a member of the Board, and served on the Board from 1982-1986. He was Chairman of the Board in 1986, having served as Vice Chair in 1985 and as the Board's first Parliamentarian in 1984. He was a member of the Board during a very significant time in its history, when the American Academy of Health Physics was being formed and when the roles and responsibilities of the two organizations were being defined. Bob was Chair of the Steering Committee for the formation of the AAHP in 1985 and 1986.

Bob continues to be very active in the certification process. He became President-Elect of the American Academy of Health Physics in 1993, served as President in 1994, and is currently Past President of the Academy. As President of the Academy, he was very instrumental in the successful final merging of the ABHP and AAHP.

Bob's accomplishments in other areas of health physics are equally impressive. He is currently the director of the environment, safety and health division at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He has served on several NCRP committees, ANSI Working Groups, and DOE, NRC, and EPA advisory panels. His professional interests include operational health physics, especially accelerator health physics and emergency planning. Bob was a member of the Working Group which wrote the “Health Physics Manual of Good Practices for Accelerator Facilities,” and was a member of the DOE Advisory Panel on Accelerator Radiation Safety. He has been a lecturer for a short course at Harvard University on planning for Nuclear Emergencies.

Bob is a leader in his professionalism and dedication to health physics and its practice. In appreciation and recognition of Bob's many signification contributions to the certification process and to the advancement of our profession, we take great pride in presenting him today with the William McAdams Outstanding Service Award.

Tom Buhl, Vice Chair ABHP

The William A. McAdams Outstanding Service Award is presented each year by the American Board of Health Physics. Our purpose is to recognize those individuals who have made significant contributions to the advancement of professionalism and health physics certification. This award is named for the man who exercised strong and dedicated efforts to identify the need, define the concept, organize the body, obtain the charter, and implement the initial certification program.

The Award was established in 1989 in honor of one of the Board's founders, William McAdams. William McAdams provided leadership, energy, and vision to the Board during its formation. He was a member of the 1958 Certification Committee formed by the Health Physics society to investigate the need for a Board. He then served as the Chair of the inaugural Board when it was formed in October 1959. Today's recipient, as have past recipients of the Award has made similar noteworthy and significant contributions to the advancement of our profession and health physics certification.

The award was first presented in 1989 on the 30th anniversary of the ABHP. The seven previous recipients of the William McAdams Outstanding Service Award are:

Jack Healy - 1989
H. Wade Patterson - 1990
Richard Bowers - 1991
Les Slaback - 1992
Ken Skrable - 1993
Lee Booth - 1994
Bob Casey - 1995

Today, I am very pleased to announce that Frazier L. Bronson is the recipient of the eighth William A. McAdams Outstanding Service Award. In making this award, the Board recognizes Frazier Bronson for his continuing and dedicated efforts in advancing the profession of health physics through certification. Frazier's contributions to health physics certification include leadership through the period when a number of refinements to the process of developing the certification examination were proposed and implemented.

Frazier received his certification in health physics in 1973. Prior to becoming certified, he participated as an instructor in instrumentation for the Baltimore- Washington Chapter's ABHP Certification Exam Preparation course from 1968 to 1974. He also co-developed, co-directed, and taught a portion of the Delaware Valley Chapter's 20-week ABHP Certification Exam Preparation Course in 1973 and 1974. Frazier served on the original panel of the Continuing Education committee from 1977 to 1979; he also participated in the first ABHPO Role Delineation process. From 1985 to 1989, Frazier served as a Board Member of the ABHP, including two years as Secretary-Treasurer (1986-1987) and two years as Chair (1988-1989).

During Frazier's tenure on the board several important processes were developed and initiated to improve the quality and consistency of the certification exam. The following list contains many of these improvements:

• Implemented the results of the Role Delineation as a basis for the subject matter of exam questions.
• Increased the reliability of the examination process by subjecting potential questions to a formal review process and rating system.
• Provided for multiple graders (first 3 ,and then 5) for each question.
• Eliminated the oral examination option.
• Developed uniform scoring guidance for graders.
• Provided training session for Comprehensive and Power Reactor Panel members for better question development.
• Implemented the ABHP Policy and Procedures Manual for Board and Panel operations.
• Introduced a formal appeals process.
• Created the Part I Panel as a separate entity.
• Created the William McAdams Outstanding Service Award.
• Introduced the first ABHP/AAHP topical session at the HPS annual meeting.
• Participated in the formative years of the AAHP, especially as it related to the ABHP.

Frazier's closing comment on his ABHP tenure is indicative of his outlook, “Had a great time and worked with some really neat people.”

Frazier has also compiled an impressive collection of accomplishments in job-related activities. He is currently Vice President, Applied Systems Development, Marketing Department at Canberra Nuclear. In this capacity he is responsible for technical development and marketing of applied spectroscopy products. Included are in-vivo counting hardware and software, low-level waste assay systems, in-situ gamma spectroscopy environmental assay units, dosimetry calculation software, mobile laboratories, and a wide variety of other products for specialized customer applications.

He has also served as HPS Representative to the ANSI N13 Full Committee (Radiation Protection) from 1967 to 1993. He has been a member of the ANSI N13.30 Working Group (Performance Criteria for Radiobioassay) from 1984 to the present time.

If you need to know anything about past operation of the ABHP, please consult the hallmark paper by Frazier, “The American Board of Health Physics: The First 35 Years,” Health Physics 67:454-470, 1994.

Frazier exemplifies the professional ism and dedication to health physics and its practice. In appreciation and recognition of Frazier's many signification contributions to health physics certification and to the advancement of our profession, we take great pride in presenting the William McAdams Outstanding Service Award to him today.

Roger C. Brown, Chair ABHP Awards Committee, 1996 Vice Chair, ABHP
Thomas E. Buhl, 1996 Chair, ABHP
Carol D. Berger, 1996 Past President, AAHP

The American Board of Health Physics is pleased to honor Robert Martin Ryan, CHP, as the 1997 recipient of the William A. McAdams Outstanding Service Award. This award is given annually to a Certified Health Physicist who has made significant contribution toward the advancement of professionalism in health physics and to the certification program of the American Board of Health Physics.

Following graduation from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1957, Bob began his career in health physics with a Fellowship from the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission to study at the University of Rochester and Brookhaven National Laboratory. After this initial training, Bob joined the Naval Reactors program at the Bethlehem Steel Company in Quincy, Massachusetts, as a health physics engineer. There he worked on the design and construction of USS Long Beach and USS Bainbridge.

In 1960, Bob joined Alco Products in Schnectady where he participated in the development of the SM-1, SM-lA, and PM-2A military reactors. His duties as health physics engineer there included a seven-month assignment at Camp Century in Greenland for startup testing of the PM-2A reactor.

In 1962, as a member of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, Bob participated in Operation Domenic at Christmas Island. During this operation, he participated in environmental sampling of weapons debris and laboratory analysis of environmental samples. He attained the rank of Commander. Later that year, he joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as Director of the Office of Radiation and Nuclear Safety and Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering. There he was responsible for a health physics program that included a 100 MeV linear accelerator, critical reactor facility, x-ray diffraction and fluorescence laboratories and numerous radioactive materials laboratories. In addition, Bob serves or has served on the radiation safety committees of three teaching and research hospitals in the Albany, New York, area, the General Electric Corporate Research and Development Center, and with NES, Inc.

During his 32 years in academia, Bob developed several courses in radiological engineering, medical health physics, and the environmental impact of nuclear power plant operations. He has introduced over 1000 students to the basic principles of health physics and has inspired many to pursue the field in greater depth. He has advised dozens of students in research leading to Masters and Doctoral degrees at Rensselaer. Bob has conducted courses to train physicians in the physics of radiology, the media in the technology of nuclear power, and numerous researchers in the safe use of radioactive material.

Bob's research interests include personnel dosimetry and the environmental impact of nuclear power plants. He has performed numerous measurements of neutron spectra at pressurized and boiling water reactors in addition to turbine skyshine measurements at a boiling water reactor. He worked closely with health physicists in industry to identify meaningful research projects for his students. Some of these research projects directly led to employment opportunities for his students.

Throughout his career Bob has recognized and emphasized the importance of professional development and certification. He became a diplomat of the American Board of Health Physics in 1968 and has maintained certification for the past 29 years. In the early 1980's Bob worked closely with Dick Bowers and Joe Sayeg on the ad hoc committee to develop the current Part I examination bank. After this, Bob served two terms on the Part II Comprehensive Panel of Examiners. In 1984 he organized a review course to prepare power reactor health physicists in central New York for the certification examination resulting in seven successful candidates.

His public service includes many valuable contributions to public education, particularly in the areas of emergency preparedness for nuclear power plants and radioactive waste disposal. Bob has served on several advisory panels to New York State agencies. During the January 1982 Site Area Emergency at the Ginna Plant in Rochester, New York, Bob provided calm factual commentary to the local news media. This commentary greatly helped public understanding and eased concern about the event. With the passage of the Low Level Waste Policy Act, Bob became active in efforts to site a low-level waste disposal facility in New York State. Through numerous public hearings and meetings he continued to provide a balanced perspective on radiation risks and the beneficial uses of radioactive material.

Bob became a plenary member of the Health Physics Society in 1959. He served on a number of committees including the Academic Education Committee. He is a charter member of the Northeastern New York Chapter and served as Secretary, President-Elect and President. He served as the program chair for the 1976 Mid-Year Meeting and as a member of the program committee for the 1994 Mid-Year Meeting. In 1991, Bob was inducted into the Fellow class in recognition of his contributions to the Health Physics Society and the health physics profession. Today, we recognize these same contributions and accomplishments with the William A. McAdams Outstanding Service Award.

George J. Vargo, Vice Chair ABHP

The American Board of Health Physics is proud to present the William A. McAdams Outstanding Service Award to Dale H. Denham. This award is given annually to a certified health physicist who has made significant contributions towards the advancement of professionalism in health physics and to the health physics certification process. The strength of the certification process relies on the professional strengths of the people who serve on the Board and Panels and on the clarity and consistency of its documentation. Dale has made significant contributions in each of these key areas.

Regarding documentation, we, as health physicists, have come to understand that in the eyes of the regulator, we are only as good as the records we keep. Dale applied this principle to the American Board of Health Physics, as he was the person who formatted and compiled the various memos, motions, minutes, and mechanics of the Panels of Examiners into the Board's Examination Panel Procedures Manual in 1985. This document implements the Board's Policy Manual and delineates how the examination is to be constructed to reflect the specifications of the professional practice of health physics. Dale also implemented the Board's direction and coordinated the development of the first serial multiple choice questions appearing on Part II of the comprehensive examination. Dale's legacy has recently paid dividends in that the Board's Procedures Manual was a key element in the recent application for accreditation of the professional certification in health physics by the Council of Engineering Scientific and Specialty Boards.

Dale actually began his service to the certification process in 1983, when he was appointed to the Comprehensive Panel of Examiners. That was during the time when there was also a Power Reactor Panel of Examiners, and the Part I examination was in the capable hands of Richard Bowers, 1991 recipient of the McAdams Award. Dale served as Vice-chairman in 1985 and as Chairman of the Comprehensive Panel of Examiners in 1986. Prior to Dale's tenure as Chair of the Comprehensive Panel of Examiners, each question on the Part II examinations was graded by only one person. Under Dale's gentle leadership, the Board recognized the inherent difficulty in assuring fairness with only one grader. In 1985, he helped coordinate the first multiple grading of Part II examinations, using a group of peers to review each candidate's response to each Part II examination question. Following Dale's lead, the concept of multiple graders for each question became a Board policy and grew from his original three to five, and now we are back to having three graders for each non-multiple choice question. Dale's legacy lives on.

Having “graduated” from the Panel of Examiners, he also served on the American Board of Health Physics during some of the formative years of the Academy, serving well as a member (1987) and in the offices of Parliamentarian (1988-1989) and Vice-Chairman (1990-1991). Dale has also served on Part I question development and validation panels. In more recent years, Dale has shared his wealth of professional experience, training, and knowledge of the examination process with others seeking certification in the practice of health physics. He has served as an instructor for examination preparation refresher courses offered by the Columbia Chapter of the Health Physics Society and for those courses offered by the Washington State University-Tri-Cities campus. From 1995 through 1996, he coordinated the examination preparation refresher courses for Washington State University-Tri-Cities.

Dale has a wealth of experience and training that he gladly and willingly shares with those seeking self-improvement. He started his career in health physics ably armed with a double major in mathematics and physics from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, in 1960. He then went north as an AEC Health Physics Fellow at the University of Washington and Hanford Atomic Products Operation, receiving his M.S. degree in Radiological Sciences as part of the first class of such graduates from the University of Washington in 1962. Dale then proceeded south to Lawrence Radiation Laboratory (now Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) where he provided health physics support for tritium, plutonium, and TRU facilities. It was at Lawrence Radiation Laboratory that he met his first office partner, Ron Kathren (current President of the American Academy of Health Physics and former President of the Health Physics Society).

Seeking to be back in the northwest, Dale moved north once more, this time joining Battelle's Pacific Northwest Laboratory, where he gained valuable experience in environmental monitoring and reporting. Dale then moved east to Radiation Management Corporation where he applied his environmental experience to managing the environmental monitoring programs for several nuclear power plants.

Yet, Dale's roots were in the west. So he came back to Lawrence Radiation Laboratory as Supervisor of Radiological Assessments and eventually back to Hanford where he again worked for Battelle adding the broad areas of risk assessment, emergency response, and operational health physics to his growing list of capabilities.

He is now Manager of Radiological Measurements and Environmental Support for Bechtel Hanford, Inc., where he has developed the company's Price Anderson Amendments Act procedure for evaluating potential radiological noncompliances, as well as a simplified procedure for reporting radiological occurrences.

Dale's accomplishments are many and varied. The American Board of Health Physics certified him in the comprehensive practice of health physics in 1969. In addition to his contributions to the American Board of Health Physics and American Academy of Health Physics, he has written more than a dozen articles published in Health Physics and has contributed to over 75 technical reports on topics related to health physics. He has also made oral presentations at more than 50 national or international meetings. His professional contributions also include participation on the ANSI Standards Committee that formalized the Fissile Material symbol, development of the first Battelle Criticality Safety Manual, and participation on ASTM and NCRP subcommittees developing decommissioning guidance.

In 1990, he was named a Fellow of the Health Physics Society. More recently, in 1997, he received the Herbert M. Parker Award presented annually by the Columbia Chapter of the Health Physics Society. That award “recognizes individuals who have made accomplishments of fundamental importance to the practice, acceptance and advancement of the health physics profession or have performed exceptional service to the Health Physics Society.” That award is named for Herb Parker, whose pioneering spirit led the development of Hanford's first radiation protection program.

Today's award is named for William A. McAdams, whose leadership, energy, and vision helped make Certification by the American Board of Health Physics possible. Today Certification by the American Board of Health Physics is one of the more respected professional certifications presently available. By his hard work, energy, and stamina, Dale H. Denham has carried out the vision of Bill McAdams and significantly contributed to the advancement of professionalism and the certification process. Congratulations Dale!

Nancy P. Kirner, Vice Chair ABHP