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American Academy of Health Physics American Board of Health Physics Website: http://www.aahp-abhp.org

Ellen Hochheiser, PhD, CHP 1958-2001

The Academy and the American Board of Health Physics (ABHP) lost a valued colleague with the untimely passing of Ellen Hochheiser on 21 December 2001. Ellen had just completed six years of service on the Part I Panel of Examiners, serving as Chair in 2000, and had expressed her interest in being considered for appointment to the Board. She was also a member of the Academy’s Professional Standards and Ethics Committee. Ellen was employed in the Radiation Safety Office at the University of Arizona and had previously worked for Fluor-Daniel Hanford, administered the Nuclear Engineering Technology program at Salem Community College, and served as a visiting lecturer at Rutgers and as the RSO for Hercon, Inc.

Ellen received her BA from Reed College and her MS and PhD from Rutgers. She was certified in comprehensive practice by the ABHP in 1993 and recertified in 1997. As Part I Panel chair in 2000, Ellen took the lead in a significant revision of the Part I exam, implementing the Board’s request to replace almost half the exam to ensure that no questions remained from the compromised 1989 exam.

Ellen brought her outstanding dedication to the profession and her commitment to improving the certification process to her service on the Panel. She constantly drove the Panel members to improve the exam and the question bank, eliminating outmoded, trivial, or incomprehensible questions. She also brought her unflagging sense of humor to the task. She was instrumental in beginning a new tradition for the Panel, namely a Sunday evening question-writing session facilitated by cigars and brandy; some really good questions have come from these sessions over the past few years, and the Panel will continue them in her honor.

Fortunately, I was able to work closely with Ellen, succeeding her as Panel Chair, and I consider my association with her a mechiah (a great joy; Ellen was proud of her Jewish heritage). We had frequent discussions about who was more demanding: a Jewish mother or a German Catholic one! We compared notes about our experiences in health physics, and I was never able to top her stories about radioactive fruit flies, among other things. Born in Newark, Ellen was a lifelong Yankees fan, and the highlight of 2001 for her was attending two World Series games in Phoenix and rooting for her team.

The Board and the Academy express our deepest condolences to Ellen’s family, friends, and colleagues. To say we will miss her is an understatement. We are saddened that we have been deprived of her talent and devotion to health physics, for I am sure that her greatest contributions to our profession still lay ahead. Above all, though, we are saddened to lose her friendship, compassion, and example. Rest easy, dear friend, for you have left your mark on us, and we and our profession are much the better for it.

—Dick Toohey