Main Commission Elects Dr Simon Bouffler as Vice-Chair

2023-06-07

On 11 April 2023, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) announced its intention to carry out an open nomination process to fill its vacant Vice-Chair position after the retirement of Donald Cool.

As stated in the release, the Main Commission was to meet on 6 June 2023 to discuss the nominee’s and conduct a vote.  ICRP is pleased to announce that current Main Commission member Dr Simon Bouffler has been elected as the next Vice-Chair of ICRP effective immediately.

Dr Bouffler has been a member of the ICRP Main Commission since 2017, and before that, served on Committee 1 (2017-2021) and several Task Groups dating back to 2013.

Currently, Simon is Deputy Director, Radiation Protection Sciences for the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).  In his role, he has responsibility for all the specialist radiation protection functions of UKHSA, including operational protection, medical protection, emergency preparedness and underpinning evidence. He has wide ranging research interests on the mechanisms of radiogenic diseases.

Simon has been involved in many radiation protection research projects and currently leads research infrastructures for the EU Pianoforte project. Until recently he was Chair of the MELODI Strategic Research Agenda working group and coordinated the RISK-IR project that investigated the effects of ionising radiation, particularly at low doses, on stem cell function. Simon has published extensively on radiation cancer and leukemia mechanisms, radio-sensitivity, circulatory disease, and eye lens sensitivity with over 130 peer reviewed publications.

In addition, Simon has several international advisory roles, including being the UK Representative to the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR). In 2018, Simon was awarded the Weiss medal by the Association for Radiation Research.