2001 Loevinger–Berman Award Presented to Keith F. Eckerman (January 2002)

The 2001 Loevinger–Berman Award for Excellence in Medical Internal Radiation Dosimetry (MIRD) was presented to Keith F. Eckerman, PhD, at the annual business meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) in June 2001. At the ceremony, Eckerman was recognized for his work in the development of dosimetric models for internal emitters. The award was established in 1999 by the SNM Awards Committee in honor of Robert Loevinger and Mones Berman, who formulated MIRD schema for internal dose calculations. The objective of this award is to recognize excellence pertaining to the field of internal radiation dosimetry as it relates to nuclear medicine through: (a) research and/or development, (b) significant publication contributions, or (c) advancement of the understanding of internal dosimetry in relation to risk and therapeutic efficacy. Previous award winners were Roger J. Cloutier (1999) and Dandamundi V. Rao (2000).

Dr. Eckerman’s distinguished career in research on dosimetry of internal emitters began in 1970 with work as an environmental scientist on the Radium Dial Painters Project at the Argonne National Laboratory outside Chicago, IL An earlier academic year at Oak Ridge Associated Universities (Oak Ridge, TN) brought him in contact Roger Cloutier (while making a 14C target for experiments on a tandem accelerator), who influenced him to consider a career in health physics. He pursued a PhD in radiologic physics, which he received from the Environmental Health Engineering Program at Northwestern University in 1972. Dr. Eckerman served as Senior Radiological Physicist with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 1974 to1978, and in 1979 became Group Leader, Dosimetry Research Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a title he held for more than 2 decades.

Dr. Eckerman has been active on international committees, with work of special note on the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP). He is a member of Committee 2 on Secondary Limits. Since 1982, he has chaired the ICRP Task Group on Dose Calculations (the first standing task group of the ICRP). He also has been a member of the National Council on Radiation Protection since 1990.

The impact of Dr. Eckerman’s work within the field of dosimetric models for internal emitters has been truly far reaching. A principal focus of his research at ORNL has been directed toward age and gender influences on dose from intakes of radionuclides (of enhanced interest since the Chernobyl nuclear accident). In collaboration with members of his group, he has developed an entire series of anthropomorphic phantoms incorporating age-specific anatomy and the associated absorbed fractions as a function of energy. Within the ICRP and MIRD, his contributions have led to publication of comprehensive radionuclide decay scheme books relevant to medical applications and health physics. Currently, he is investigating inhalation models and electron absorbed fractions in the airways. Finally, as radioimmunotherapy develops with new radioagents, his research in the modeling of skeletal and marrow compartments allowing improved estimates of radiation dose to the marrow is of continuing importance.

Eckerman is a senior staff scientist in the Advanced Biomedical Science and Technology Group in the ORNL Life Sciences Division.

(Contact: Keith Eckerman, eckermankf@ornl.gov, 865-574-6251)