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Division of Radiation Medicine and Biodosimetry (SOBO)

Staff

• Dr. István TURAI, MD, PhD, MPHM (Mr) - Head of Division

• Katalin SZALMA (Ms) - researcher, biodosimetrist
• Éva VÁLICZKÓ (Ms) - researcher, biologist
• Erzsébet TKACSENKÓNÉ FODOR (Ms) - assistant
• Anikó D. MOLNÁR SÁNDORNÉ (Ms) - assistant and secretary (in part time)
• Prof. Dr. György J. KÖTELES, MD, DSc (Mr) - EB (extrabudgetary) consultant
• Prof. Dr. Lóránd BERTÓK , VD, DSc (Mr) - EB consultant
• Dr. Győző HORVÁTH, MD (Mr) - EB researcher
• Dr. Zoltán SOMOSY, MSc (Mr) - EB researcher
• Katalin CSEH (Ms) - EB researcher

Main duties of the Division

The Division plays key role in national preparedness for medical management of overexposed persons in nuclear accidents or radiological emergencies. In this respect the main activities of both budgetary and EB staff members of this Division are:

• contribution to modification and update of Decree 16/2000 by Minister of Health (MoH) re. the above task; the relevant parts of Order 64/2005 by MoH to
  • extend criteria of accidental overexposure (for cases of partial-body exposure and intake of radionuclides),
  • update system of hospital care of radiation accident patients,
  • organize medical management according to the professional profile,
  • reduce number of designated hospitals countrywide from 12 to 9, and
  • oblige designated medical staff to attend once in 5 years the training course in radiation medicine organized by NRIRR;
• organization and conduct of accredited by Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, Budapest, the 5-day intensive training course in radiation medicine titled “Medical preparedness and response for radionuclear emergencies” each year, recruiting Faculty of the course primarily from the staff of the Division (regularly including EB staff) as well as invited speakers from the designated hospitals and HQ of Urgent (Pre-hospital) Medical Service;
• provision of individual consultancies for the medical and paramedical staff of designated hospitals re. diagnosis and treatment of radiation injuries, deorporation and decontamination of radioactive materials from the human body,
• preparation and update of national guidances on „Minimum requirements to designated hospitals for preparedness and response to medical management of radiation emergency patients” and on „Decorporation and decontamination of radioactive materials from the human body”,
• provision of cytogenetic dose assessment (biodosimetry) in case of suspect for radiation (or combined, radiation and chemical) overexposure in case of appropriate indication (being the official Biodosimetry Laboratory for Hungary assigned by Decree 16/2000 MoH);
• experimental study of the effects of ionizing and partially of non-ionizing radiation exposure at cellular and organ levels, including
  • research on „non-targeted” radiation effects in cell membranes,
  • study of combined effects of toxic metals and non-ionizing radiation exposure
  • research on effective drugs to prevent and treat radiation injury;
• contribution to regional radiation medicine related activities organized by the WHO, acting as the Liaison Institute of WHO/REMPAN (Radiation Emergency Medical Preparedness and Assistance Network) since 2003 (headed by Dr. I. Turai since August 2004).

Additional activities of the Division:

• contribution to Editorial Boards of international and national journals – Dr. I. Turai is member of ’Radiation Medicine’ (bilingual journal published in Kiev and Moscow), ’Polymers and Medicine’ (bilingual journal published in Saint-Petersburg) and Hungarian periodicals ’Health Science’ and ’Public Health’;
• reviewers for scientific journals:
  • Dr. I. Turai – British Medical Journal, Health Physics & Acta Biologica,
  • Dr. Z. Somosy – International Journal of Radiation Biology,
• Radiation medicine and Biodosimetry expertise (Dr. I. Turai & Dr. G. Bognár);
• Representing MoH in the Inter-Governmental Coordination Committee for Management of Nuclear Accidents (Dr. I. Turai, since Feb.2008);
• Representing Hungary in the Committee on Radiation Protection of the International Standardization Organization (since 2009) and contributing to elaborates of international standards by its Working Group on Biodosimetry (since 1998);
• Dr. I. Turai has been appointed as member of special committees of the Hungarian Academy of Science on ’Environment and Health’ and ’Atomic Energy’ (in 2009) and ’Radiation Protection, Environmental and Reactor Physics’ (in 2006).

Publications

Publications by members of the Division are listed by name in the chapter ’Publikációk’ on the main page, in Hungarian.

Scientometric data of staff members of the Division

Scientometric data of Dr. I. Turai (as of 15 April 2011)