At its 13 April 1999 meeting in Chicago, Illinois, the American Board of Medical Physics (ABMP) unanimously agreed to allow people who had passed Part I of the examination of the American Board of Health Physics (ABHP) to apply for admission to the medical health physics (MHP) specialty examination without having to take Part I of the ABMP examination. This petition was brought to the ABMP by the trustees of the American Academy of Health Physics (AAHP), Richard Vetter and Ken Miller, and the Chair of the Medical Health Physics Panel of the ABMP, Jean St. Germain. Dr. Faiz Khan, Chair of the ABMP, stated, "We hope that this decision will further enhance the relationship between our two boards."

In order to allow Certified Health Physicists (CHP) to take advantage of this possibility in 1999, the ABMP has agreed to accept applications well after the closing date and without any late submission penalties. People wishing to apply should contact Dr. N. Suntharalingam, Executive Secretary of the ABMP, as soon as possible. His email address is <suntha@worldnet.att.net>. People may also contact Dr. James Hecht, Credentialing Services, P.O. Box 1502, Galesburg, IL 61402-1502; 309-343-1202; fax: 309-344-1715.

On 26-27 March, 11 CHPs convened an ABHP-sponsored workshop in Albuquerque with several objectives. The goals of this group of volunteers were (1) to modify, update, strengthen, or otherwise improve a series of questions currently in the bank of questions for the ABHP Part I examination and (2) to develop new and contemporary candidate questions for possible addition to the examination bank. An additional challenge was to develop some Part II questions if possible within the allotted time.

The group intensively reviewed and either improved, will improve, or "retired" over 87 "older," outdated, and otherwise weaker questions previously in the bank. The group also has committed to develop some new questions in time for review by the Part I Panel of Examiners at its fall meeting.

The workshop participants were Joe Archer of Westinghouse--WIPP, Rowena Argall of RETN/consultant, Tom Buhl of Los Alamos National Lab (LANL), John Campisi of Sandia National Lab, Jim Channell of the Environmental Evaluation Group, Rick Haaker of AQ Safety, Inc., Jim Hyder of LANL--retired/consultant, Hans Oldewage of Sandia National Lab, Terry Vergamini of LANL, Mark Hoover of the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI), and Morgan Cox, also of LRRI. Rick Haaker is the current chair of the ABHP Part I Panel.

Mark Hoover of LRRI was the official host at the Lovelace facility, and Hoover and Cox were the originators of the workshop. Many thanks go to the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute which donated its facilities for the workshop.

The first question-development workshop was held last year in Richland, Washington. This group of "Southwestern CHPs" may decide to convene annually or periodically with similar objectives.

Looking for a way to painlessly give something back to your professional community? Why not host a Part I Question Workshop in your own locale? Ellen Hochheiser has already developed workshop materials, and the Board could probably provide a current or past Part I Panel member to advise you on the process.

The ABHP Part I Panel will be holding a passing point workshop in conjunction with the Health Physics Society Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. The workshop will be on Monday, 28 June, from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. The workshop is open to all CHPs, and those who are recently certified are especially encouraged to attend. We hope to have about 20 CHPs participate in the passing point exercise. The passing point determination is a critical aspect of the development and validation of the Part I examination. Participants will receive four CECs toward recertification. If you are interested in attending, please contact Nancy Johnson at 703-790-1745 or <AAHP@burkinc.com>.

The semiannual edition of the CHP News will be published as an insert in the July Health Physics Society's Newsletter. This is a one-time adjustment requested by the Society to accommodate several rearrangements in the insert schedule. The HPS/ANSI Standard 13.1 was an insert in the May Newsletter and the Midyear insert is in this month's Newsletter.

--the Editors