Steve Sugarman
Vice President of Operations
and Corporate Health Physicist
Years of Experience
in Health Physics
Countries I Provided Training
or Technical Lectures
Year Joined
SummitET
Why I work at SummitET
I believe in the mission and enjoy the people. It also affords me the opportunity to make a difference by participating in the development and delivery of exercise and training in order to help responders and other affected people better understand radiation and its effects.
My work/research will make a difference in the world because…
I think that communications is an aspect of emergency response that is sometimes overlooked, particularly communicating technical information to the general public. I think I can make a difference in helping others learn to effectively communicate radiation-related information, thus having a positive impact on overall radiation emergency response.
Something you may not know about me
I have a 4th Dan blackbelt in taekwondo. I started college with an eye toward medicine, but later – after a few years of drifting through life – stumbled into health physics. I have an unhealthy interest in watches.
What do you perceive is the greatest challenge facing America today regarding your subject-matter-expertise?
Effectively communicating what radiation can and cannot do. There are many things that are possible because of radiation, yet it still has a stigma – or negative connotation – attached to it. Many radiation protection professionals may be excellent at what they do, but few are good at talking about it in an understandable way.
Education
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE
M.S. Safety Education and Service, 1997
TUSCULUM UNIVERSITY
B.S. Organizational Management, 1992
Certifications
Affiliations
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Served as clinical adjunct faculty member at the Lincoln Memorial University Debusk College of Osteopathic Medicine
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Contributor to various international and domestic radiation-based guidance documents
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Multiple peer-reviewed publications related to dose assessment, emergency response, and radiation protection
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Peer Reviewer – Health Physics
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Previous Health Physics Project Manager at the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS)
Contributions
About Steve
Steve is a certified health physicist (CHP) and brings more than 30 years of applied health physics experience to SummitET. His primary interest is the integration of health physics into the overall response to radiological incidents. In addition to his vice president responsibilities, his role includes serving as the corporate radiological subject matter expert and providing health physics input/oversight for SummitET projects.
Steve supports the outreach agenda via educational course delivery, exercise development/facilitation, invited lectures, and conference/meeting attendance. Having served as a lecturer for many organizations including the International Atomic Energy Agency, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Health Physics Society, and the National Radiological Emergency Preparedness Conference, Steve has contributed to numerous publications and guidance documents on various health physics topics and has significant real-world experience in responding to radiological events, both domestically and internationally.