Re: HPS President

[BergerIEM@aol.com]

Paul:

I am troubled by the questions that you posed to the two candidates for Health
Physics Society (HPS) President-Elect.  I am also concerned that you may have
some mis-conceptions about the American Academy of Health Physics (AAHP), its
mission, and its on-going activities, the result of which drove you to your
inquiries.  As a member of the AAHP and one of its Past-Presidents, I would
like to take this opportunity to provide you with some additional information
that I hope might shed some light on a few issues issues.

First, as was so eloquently stated by both Paul Rohwer and Charlie Willis in
their responses to you, the AAHP and the HPS are separate organizations.
Neither influences the other in the corporate or operational sense, even
though many members of the AAHP are also members of the HPS.  If you were
advised by someone that the AAHP is "the technical arm" of the HPS, you were
mis-informed.  Likewise, because both organizations have distinct and separate
objectives, there is neither the mechanism nor the desire for one to exert
"inappropriate" influence over the other.

Second, a few years ago the Professional Development Committee of the AAHP
embarked on a project of preparing some Standards of Practice for Certified
Health Physicists.  These documents, which are similar in nature to those that
are prepared by other professional organizations for the use of their
membership, are being written by CHPs for the use of CHPs.  They were never
intended to be national, international, or any other type of broad-based
consensus standard since the AAHP is not an accredited standards-setting body.
On the other hand, experienced CHPs are certainly qualified to capture, "on
paper", good technical and procedural practices that can be used by their
colleagues in the design of their own radiation protection programs.  This
professional development effort should, indeed, come from the AAHP.

Finally, if you have additional concerns about the AAHP and its objectives,
operation, and/or management,  I encourage you, in the future, to give the
Executive Committee of the AAHP, rather than candidates for office in another
organization, an opportunity to respond.  I know that during my term as
President, I welcomed inquires about the AAHP from any source.  I am confident
that the current slate of officers are even more committed and capable.
(Besides, they are all very nice people!)  You may also want to visit the
AAHP's web page (http://phantom.ehs.uiuc.edu/~aahp), where you can review a
copy of the by-laws of the AAHP, a listing of Executive Committee members and
their addresses, and a host of other information about the organization.  Best
wishes.

Carol D. Berger, C.H.P.
Integrated Environmental Management, Inc.
CDBerger@IEM-Inc.com
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