An authority in radiation oncology at the National Cancer Institute, Coleman applied the science of how radiation affects the human body to lead the effort to develop a blueprint for how the United States would handle the health consequences of a radiological or nuclear event.
“After 9/11, a few of us began to ask the question, ‘What does our specialty know that can help the country if there is a nuclear incident?’ ” he said, noting that before the 2001 terrorist attacks, the United States simply was not prepared for such an event.
It was for this work that he was selected as a finalist for the 2011 Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals, which honor the federal workforce by highlighting those who have made significant contributions to the country.
The team Coleman led starting in 2004 developed an extensive plan that has addressed the many complexities of a federal response, including:
●How to communicate to the affected population.
●How to ration scarce resources and quickly decide who gets what treatment when there are mass casualties.
●What levels of radiation exposure to the human body pose a danger.
●What treatments would be best to increase chances of survival.
And the team created a preparedness tool kit to assist health-care providers and planners involved in treating, handling and caring for radiation victims in a crisis. It’s at remm.nlm.gov.
Because of his expertise, Coleman was called to Japan in March to help with the response to the massive leak of radiation from reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant after an earthquake and tsunami. When he received the call, he was happy to help, he said, even though his family was nervous because it was unclear how dangerous the radiation exposure was for people in Japan.
Getting to Japan was easy. It was, he recalled, “one of the few times you could get plenty of seats in coach.”
Once there, he used radiation data to assess risks to human health, provided guidance on treatment for contamination, and met with U.S. Embassy staff and other Americans to provide information.
“People were scared,” he said. “You can’t see or feel radiation, but you can measure it, and we were able to give some comfort to people by explaining the situation. We told them what they should worry about and what they didn’t have to worry about.”
Fueled by an insatiable curiosity — “I can’t stand not understanding” is his animating principle — Coleman has fused his work as an internist, cancer researcher and nuclear fallout planner into a highly unusual career.
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