ICRP Main Commission Unanimously Appoints Dr Claire Cousins and Prof Jacques Lochard as Members Emeritus
2023-12-07
The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) is pleased to announce that longtime Chair Dr Claire Cousins and Vice-Chair Prof Jacques Lochard were unanimously appointed Members Emeritus at the latest Main Commission meeting last month in Tokyo, Japan.
This distinction is rare, and only given to professionals who provide a significant contribution to the Main Commission, Committees, and Radiological Protection worldwide.
Dr Cousins studied medicine at the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, and graduated with a Bachelor of Medical Sciences, 1st Class in 1982, and a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery with Distinction in Paediatrics in 1984. She worked in Nottingham post-qualification and trained in Radiology there for three years before moving to the Hammersmith Hospital (London) as a Senior Registrar. Dr Cousins specialised in interventional radiology and was appointed Consultant Radiologist in 1993. In 1999, she was appointed as Consultant Radiologist at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK. She was the Lead Vascular and Interventional Radiologist of this very busy unit from 2008 until her retirement in 2016.
Dr Cousins joined ICRP in 2001 as a member of Committee 3 after advising on ICRP Publication 85. She was appointed Chair of this Committee from 2005-2009 and was elected Chair of the Main Commission for three consecutive terms from 2009 until 2021.
While her work on ICRP Task Groups and Publications were significant, her impact on the modernisation of ICRP operations is something that will be felt for generations. In a long list of achievements, some of the highlights under Cousins’ leadership include systematic public consultation for all ICRP reports, the formation of biennial international symposia, the ICRP mentorship programme, binding turnover rates for membership and open nominations, launching the review and the revision of the System of Radiological Protection, and increasing transparency through stakeholder engagement and communications.
Upon her retirement from ICRP, she established the Cousins Award to recognise and highlight young professionals from around the world at ICRP symposia, strengthening her commitment to this field in the years to come.
In response to this appointment, Dr Cousins said, “It is an honour and a privilege to be the first woman elected as an Emeritus Member of the Main Commission. ICRP was a large part of my life for twenty years and I will continue to work for and support the organisation.”
Jacques Lochard was educated in Economics at the University of Besançon-France and Pantheon-Sorbonne in Paris. He joined the Nuclear Protection Evaluation Centre (CEPN), a non-profit organisation for research and studies in the evaluation of the technical, health, economic and societal dimensions of radiological protection in 1977. He was the director of CEPN from 1989 to 2016.
His main contribution in radiological protection has been first in the development of methodologies for the implementation of the optimisation principles. He has published several tens of articles in scientific journals and in proceedings of international conferences covering both the theoretical and practical aspects of optimisation of radiological protection. He also contributed to the field of radiation risk assessment and management to studies on the health and environmental impacts of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Starting in the early nineties, he engaged in the protection of people affected by nuclear accidents. He actively participated in several international projects related to the management of the post-accident situation after the Chernobyl accident, particularly in Belarus, in the context of the ETHOS project (1996-2001) and the CORE programme (2004-2008). In France, he chaired the Commission on long-term recovery of the French Steering Committee for the management of the post-accident phase of a nuclear accident (CODIRPA) from 2009 to 2012. After the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, he actively participated as facilitator in a series of dialogue meetings first initiated by ICRP then relayed by local stakeholders to find ways to respond to the challenges of the long-term rehabilitation in the affected areas. His impact in Japan continues to be felt as he is currently a Professor at Nagasaki University in charge of the Department of Health Risk Control at the Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, and a Visiting Professor at Hiroshima University, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences.
Prof Lochard joined ICRP in 1993 as Secretary of Committee 3, and became a Member of Committee 4 in 1997, Chairing the Committee from 2009 to 2013. Along with Dr Cousins, Jacques was an integral leader of ICRP through a significant transition in the last decade while serving as Vice-Chair of the Main Commission from 2013 until his retirement in 2021.
ICRP, and radiological protection worldwide, are indebted to the efforts, impact, and commitment of Dr Claire Cousins and Prof Jacques Lochard. As Members Emeritus, we are thrilled that they will remain part of the ICRP family indefinitely.
Questions or media inquiries can be directed to Kelsey Cloutier, Head of Stakeholder Engagement and Communications.