Tore Straume, U professor of radiobiology in the U School of Medicine, led a team of scientists from the United States and Germany to end a 20-year controversy over the amount of radiation exposure in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

According to Straume, the radiation readings from those cities serve as the world’s primary basis for estimating radiation induced cancer risk in humans.

The data has been used to set safety standards in industries using high dosages of radiation, Straume said.

In 1986, scientists began doubting the accuracy of survivor radiation dosage estimates.

The discrepancies between the measurements and the estimates caused many to doubt the accuracy of the present system used to estimate cancer risk, Straume said.

Straume’s team found that the data from the cities was essentially accurate and that the method for determining safety standards did not need to be changed.

The study was funded by the U.S. government and German governmental agencies.

U students receive safe workplace scholarships

Matthew Johns, Eric Ellis and Laura Kaufman received $3,500 Safe Workplace Scholarships for 2003-2004 from the U’s Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health.

The scholarships are funded by the Worker’s Compensation Fund of Utah. They are for students of industrial hygiene, ergonomics and safety.

Kaufman received the new scholarship designated for graduate students in occupational medicine.

The Worker’s Compensation Fund of Utah gives the scholarships because they believe well-trained safety professionals play a vital role in reducing workplace injuries.

U students and staff

volunteer at health fair

Members of the U Health Sciences Center community participated in this year’s C.A.R.E. Fair to provide free health care to low-income patients in Salt Lake City.

Many of the thousands of people who attend the event have little or no insurance coverage.

The Community Assistance Resource Event Fair was held Aug. 14-16. It is the largest health-care event in the state. The U has been participating in the event since 1996.

Medical and nursing school students attended, along with residents and faculty from U Hospital. Marc Babitz, director of student programs in family medicine for the School of Medicine, said the event is a great learning experience for the students.

Moran Eye Center

celebrates first decade

The Moran Eye Center celebrated its 10th anniversary Aug. 1 with a lunch party and a debut of three-dimensional plans for their new “Moran II” eye center.

The new Moran Eye Center is scheduled for construction in the spring of 2004 adjacent to Primary Children’s Hospital.

Randall Olson, center director and chairman of the department of ophthalmology and visual sciences, spoke of the progress the center has achieved in only 10 years.

According to Olson, the center has become nationally ranked alongside eye centers that have been around for 100 and even 150 years.

Happily ever after at U Hospital

Missy Knudson didn’t want to wait for her husband Matthew to get out of the hospital after a skydiving accident for the two to get married.

The couple decided to tie the knot in the hospital’s Hope Chapel July 30. Hospital staff helped them get a marriage license and made them a cake. Hospital chaplain Mark Allison performed the ceremony.

U Hospital entrance loop closure

The entrance road to U Hospital that loops near the front doors for patient drop-offs and pickups will be closed from Aug. 28 to Sept. 14.

Visitors and patients are encouraged to use the bus loop near the north terrace while the entrance road is being resurfaced.

Golf tournament

encourages activity among the disabled

A golf tournament Aug. 27 marked the first year of a program for golfers with disabilities.

The project, which uses golf to encourage people with disabilities to become more involved in their communities, was conceived by David Compton, professor in the U College of Health.

Successful bone marrow transplants celebrated

The 10th annual picnic for bone marrow stem-cell transplant survivors was held at Snowbird Resort’s Special Event Center Saturday, Aug. 23. The event was attended by transplant survivors, their families and staff from U Hospitals and Clinics, Primary Children’s Hospital and LDS Hospital.

Compiled by Andrew Kirk