Nuclear Weapons: A Public Health Issue
It is difficult to accept the enormity of the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons. The panel for this course recorded on October 4, 2021 presents the information physicians, health care professionals and the lay public need to address this danger and advocate for change, as we physicians have done so effectively in the past.
Jointly provided by the Massachusetts Medical Society, its Committee on Environmental & Occupational Health, its Committee on Global Health, and Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility
Faculty
Brita E. Lundberg, MD
Dr. Brita Lundberg is the chair of Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) and the CEO and founder of Lundberg Health Advocates, LLC, a patient advocacy group. Trained in infectious diseases, she is active in the medical community as a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS)’s Occupational and Environmental Health Committee; as a Delegate to MMS for the Charles River District; as a member of Climate Code Blue, a physician advocacy group on climate issues; and as a Board member of the COVID-19 Action Coalition. Her primary area of interest is the human health effect of fossil fuels and their role as a driver of climate change. With Greater Boston PSR, MMS and many other groups, she helped organize a large forum on the Health Impacts of Natural Gas Infrastructure at the Boston University School of Public Health in January 2018. She has successfully won passage of policies around climate change, fossil fuel pollution and human health at the MMS; and has co-authored several reports with other Greater Boston PSR members on the flawed health impact assessment of the Weymouth compressor station. Dr. Lundberg completed her undergraduate education at Harvard University, medical school and residency at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Fellowship in Infectious Diseases at University of Colorado. She was formerly on faculty at the Emory School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases.
Joseph Hodgkin, MD
Dr. Hodgkin is a hospitalist at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is involved in advocacy and peer education on nuclear weapons.
Matt Bivens, MD
Dr. Bivens is an emergency physician who works at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where he holds an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School as Instructor in Clinical Medicine, and at St. Luke’s Hospital in New Bedford, MA. Dr. Bivens is the EMS Medical Director for several ambulance services in southern Massachusetts. Prior to medical school in Washington D.C., he worked as a journalist. Among other things, he covered the war in Chechnya for the Los Angeles Times, was the editor of The Moscow Times, a daily English-language paper, and helped manage Russia’s largest publishing house, Independent Media. His journalism has been published in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Harper’s, The Nation, and other media.
Tova Fuller, MD, PhD
Dr. Tova Fuller is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California San Francisco, serving as an inpatient psychiatrist. She has an MS in biomedical engineering and a PhD in computational genetics in addition to her MD. Her clinical areas of interest are acute treatment of serious mental illness and hypnosis. Dr. Fuller has been involved with PSR since her first year of medical school. She sat on the national board of directors as a medical student representative and also was involved with the Los Angeles and Washington chapters. Currently she serves as Vice President and Nuclear Weapons Abolition Committee (NWAC) chair of the SF Bay PSR chapter. In 2011 she was awarded the Lown-Alexander-Sidel Award for Medical Advocacy. Dr. Fuller’s primary area of interest is militarism and nuclear weapons. She co-planned 2 national conferences as a medical student on these topics in addition to climate change and environmental health.
Intended Audience
All health professionals
Course Objectives
- Review the medical consequences of a nuclear war or accident
- Discuss the likelihood that nuclear war or accident might occur
- Describe the current state of preparedness to deal with these nuclear threats
Course Fees
Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) Physician Member: $40.00
MMS Resident/Student Member: Free
Non-Member Physician: $90.00
Non-Members Resident/Student: $20.00
Allied Health Professional/Other: $32.00
Format & Estimated Time to Complete
Video (1 hour)
Accreditation and Credit Information
Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint providership of the Massachusetts Medical Society and Greater Boston Physicians for Social Responsibility. The Massachusetts Medical Society is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
AMA Credit Designation Statement
The Massachusetts Medical Society designates this internet enduring material for a maximum of 1.00 AMA PRA Category 1
Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
This activity meets the criteria for the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine for risk management study.
National Commission on Certification of Physicians Assistant
(NCCPA)
Physician Assistants may claim a maximum of 1.00 Category 1 credits for completing this activity. NCCPA accepts AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ from organizations accredited by ACCME or a recognized state medical society.
Exam/Assessment: A score of 70% or higher is required to receive AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.
Activity Term
Original Release Date: November 10, 2021
Review Date (s): N/A
Termination Date: November 10, 2024
System Requirements
Desktops/Laptops
Windows 10
Mac OSX 10.6 higher
Most modern browsers including:
IE 11+
Firefox 18.0+
Chrome latest version
Safari 12+
Mobile/Tablet
iOS devices beginning with OS version 10 or higher (includes, iPhone, ipad and iTouch devices)
