Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism: Toxic Radiological Materials (TRMs) - July 2025
- Registration Closed
Overview
The Agents of Opportunity for Terrorism: Toxic Radiological Materials (TRMs) course is an awareness-level training course addressing the medical and psychological impact of radiation.
Target Audience
1-Day Course is Designed for:
- Pre-Hospital First Responders (EMTs and Paramedics)
- Public Health Professionals
- Law Enforcement
- Emergency Providers
Course Objectives:
- Describe the various types of radiation including their potential exposure scenarios
- Discuss Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS)
- Describe the emergency care of patients contaminated with radioactive material
- Describe the management of cutaneous radiation syndrome
- List resources available to address radiation accidents
- Discuss how interdisciplinary collaboration is necessary when responding to a radiological accident affecting a large population.
Continuing Education: Interprofessional continuing education credits through the CDC are available. See the Continuing Education tab for details.
Course Syllabus | On-Demand
8:50 AM - 9:00 AM ET Welcome and Opening Remarks*
CAPT Jill Shugart
Associate Director
Coordinating Office for Environmental Readiness, Response and Recovery (COER3)
National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (NCEH/ATSDR)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Carol Iddins, MD
Director, Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS)
9:00 AM - 10:00 AM ET Practical Radiation Physics and Radiation Protection
Meghan Dieffenthaller, MS, NRRPT
Health Physicist, Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS)
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM ET Acute Radiation Syndrome
Carol Iddins, MD
Director, Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS)
11:00 AM - 11:10 AM ET Break*
11:10 AM - 12:00 PM ET Radiation Instrumentation and Early Dose Magnitude Estimation
Dillon Vogt, BS
Health Physicist, Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS)
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET Cutaneous Radiation Injuries
Carol Iddins, MD
Director, Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS)
1:00 PM - 1:30 PM ET Lunch*
1:30 PM - 2:20 PM ET Radiation Emergencies for Healthcare Providers
Emily Kiernan, DO, FAACT
Medical Toxicologist
2:20 PM - 3:10 PM ET Common Radiation Sources
Dillon Vogt, BS
Health Physicist, Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS)
3:10 PM - 3:20 PM ET Break*
3:20 PM - 4:10 PM ET Management of Internal Contamination
Carol Iddins, MD
Director, Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS)
4:10 PM - 5:00 PM ET Donning/Doffing and Decontamination
Meghan Dieffenthaller, MS, NRRPT
Health Physicist, Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS)
5:00 PM - 5:10 PM ET Closing Remarks/Adjourn*
Carol Iddins, MD
Director, Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS)
*Note: Sessions marked with an asterisk (*) are not eligible for continuing education (CE). CE will not be provided for scheduled breaks or lunch periods.
Meghan Dieffenthaller, MS, NRRPT
Health Physicist
Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS)
Meghan Dieffenthaller is a health physicist who grew up right outside of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, so she naturally was drawn to the nuclear sciences. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Dallas (UD) in Irving, Texas, and master’s degree in radiological health with a health physics specialization at Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins, Colorado. While working on her bachelor’s degree, she had three summer internships at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she was first introduced to the field of health physics. While at CSU, she worked as a technical researcher and writer for a TENORM and hazardous waste management company in Englewood, Colorado, and had a summer internship at Idaho National Laboratory. She worked as a health physicist for the Dose Reconstruction Program conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) starting in July 2021, in which she would analyze bioassay records and use the Integrated Modules for Bioassay Analysis (IMBA) program to calculate radiation doses to DOE employees. Meghan has been a health physicist with the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS) since January 2023, training emergency responders, healthcare providers, and health physicists in medical radiation response, both domestically and abroad, as well as providing dose analysis capabilities for radiation emergencies. She has also been on the Health Physics Society Program Committee since 2023. She earned her National Registry of Radiation Protection Technologists (NRRPT) certification in February 2025.
Carol Iddins, MD
Director
Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS)
Carol Iddins, M.D., serves as director of the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS). As director, she ensures support to multiple governmental and nongovernmental national readiness agencies, as well as oversees the REAC/TS mission to provide advice to other health care professionals regarding the medical management of ionizing radiation-induced injuries and illnesses. Iddins leads REAC/TS as the United States’ only Collaborating Center for Radiation Emergency Management for the World Health Organization (WHO) and coordinates international response through the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Radiation Assistance Network (RANET) and WHO’s Radiation Emergency Medical Preparedness and Assistance Network (REMPAN).
Iddins has consulted on patients with radiation-related injuries/illnesses and has deployed internationally for RANET to provide subject matter medical expertise. Iddins routinely consults on calls regarding potential and actual radiation exposures, evaluates and participates in radiological/nuclear exercises, and shares her specialized knowledge worldwide at courses and professional meetings. She is a member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements PAC 3 Nuclear and Radiological Security and Safety Committee.
Iddins earned a doctor of medicine degree at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and completed her residency training in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Tennessee. She has practiced obstetrics and gynecology and aerospace/occupational medicine in civilian and military environments.
Iddins is a Diplomate of the American Board of Disaster Medicine and a Fellow of the American Academy of Disaster Medicine, and currently the vice president of the American Academy of Disaster Medicine. Iddins is a decorated U.S. Air Force veteran of Operations Allied Force, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
Emily Kiernan, DO, FAACT
Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology
Emory University School of Medicine
Dr. Emily Kiernan is an Assistant Professor at Emory University School of Medicine. She is a board-certified Emergency Medicine physician who recently completed a medical toxicology fellowship at Emory University/CDC. She has served as the fellow co-chair for the AACT Radiation Special Interest Section group as well as a chair in the ACMT Fellow-in-training association.
James "Dillon" Vogt, BS
Health Physicist
Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS)
Dillon Vogt is a Health Physicist with the REAC/TS team. His career started at the Savannah River Site (SRS) in 2016 as an Associate Health Physicist in the External Dosimetry Department. While working with SRS he helped External Dosimetry switch the entirety of their dosimeters from Panasonic TLDs to Landauer OSLs, began working with 3D printing to develop jigs and tools for research purposes, and began to help with the Internal Dosimetry Department with Bioassay receiving, whole body counting, and lung counting. While at SRS Dillon also took over the Criticality Neutron Dosimetry (CND) program, assembling and monitoring the supply of the sites criticality dosimetry and participated in the 2022 International CND Intercomparison Study at the Nevada National Security Site. Dillon started work with the REAC/TS team in the summer of 2023 as one of their Health Physicists. Since then he has been involved in multiple courses offered by REAC/TS both domestic and abroad.
Registration Rates
ACMT Member | Free |
Non-member | Free |
Registration will include:
- Access to the on-demand recordings of all lectures for 1-year
- Continuing Education (provided at no cost through CDC via TCEO) - CURRENTLY PENDING.
- Downloadable Attendance Certificate
Please note that for proprietary reasons, PDFs of the presentation slides will not be available for download. You will have access to an on-demand recording of the course for one year from the event date.
Interested in becoming an ACMT Member? Contact our Membership Manager at membership@acmt.net. Learn more at: www.acmt.net/membership
Continuing Education
Objectives
1. Describe the various types of radiation including their potential exposure scenarios
2. Discuss Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS)
3. Describe the emergency care of patients contaminated with radioactive material
4. Describe the management of cutaneous radiation syndrome
5. List resources available to address radiation accidents
6. Discuss how interdisciplinary collaboration is necessary when responding to a radiological accident affecting a large population.
Available CE Categories
CME: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designates this live activity for a maximum of 7.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
CNE: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designates this activity for 7.25 nursing contact hours.
CPE: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designated this (Knowledge-based) event for pharmacists to receive 0.725 CEUs in pharmacy education. The Universal Activity Number is JA4008229-9999-25-057-H05-P.
Once credit is claimed, an unofficial statement of credit is immediately available on CDC TRAIN. Official credit will be uploaded within 60 days on the NABP/CPE Monitor.
CEU: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is authorized by IACET to offer 0.7 CEU's for this program.
CECH: Sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a designated provider of continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. This program is designed for Certified Health Education Specialists (CHES®) and/or Master Certified Health Education Specialists (MCHES®) to receive up to 7 total Category I continuing education contact hours. Maximum advanced level continuing education contact hours available are 7. Continuing Competency credits available are 7. CDC provider number 98614.
CPH: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is a pre-approved provider of Certified in Public Health (CPH) recertification credits and is authorized to offer 8.0 CPH recertification credits for this program.
Instructions for Obtaining CE
To receive continuing education (CE) for WD4897- AGENTS OF OPPORTUNITY FOR TERRORISM: TOXIC RADIOLOGICAL MATERIALS (TRMS), please visit CDC TRAIN and search for the course in the Course Catalog using [WD4897]. Follow the steps below by 09/02/2027.
- Register for and complete the course.
- Pass the post-assessment at 76%.
- Complete the evaluation.
- Visit Your Learning to access your certificates and transcript.
Hardware/Software Requirements
Computer or Other Internet-Enabled Device; Internet Connection; Browser or Zoom Application.
Materials
None.
Prerequisites
None.
Format
This activity is Web-based/Web on Demand.
Fees
No fees are charged for CDC’s CE activities.
Accreditation Statements
In support of improving patient care, this activity has been planned and implemented by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT), and Radiation Emergency Assistance Center / Training Site (REAC/TS). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.
Disclosure
In compliance with continuing education requirements, all planners and presenters/moderators must disclose all financial relationships, in any amount, with ineligible companies over the previous 24 months as well as any use of unlabeled product(s) or products under investigational use.
CDC, our planners, and presenters/moderators wish to disclose they have no financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
Presentations will not include any discussion of the unlabeled use of a product or a product under investigational use with the exception of Dr. Carol J. Iddins, MD, FAADM ’s discussion on Acute Radiation Syndrome and Management of Internal Contamination. She will be discussing that Acute Radiation Syndrome has very few FDA approved medications. Internal contamination has very few FDA approved medications
CDC did not accept financial or in-kind support from ineligible companies for this continuing education activity.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, age, disability, religion, or sex. To learn more visit: https://www.hhs.gov/civil-rights/for-individuals/nondiscrimination/index.html.
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