Radiation Disaster Medicine Curriculum Revisited in a Post-Fukushima Context

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has a distinctive mandate to “accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health, and prosperity throughout the world.” The Division of Human Health (NAHU) of the IAEA recognizes education and research as key components of “readiness, response, and recovery” with respect to a major nuclear accident. In this chapter, we address ongoing efforts of NAHU to foster a more comprehensive Science and Technology Studies (STS) approach to creating and mobilizing new knowledge of radiation medicine. This includes promoting collaborative education and research programs and policies based on lessons from the Fukushima accident. NAHU is playing an instrumental role in this process. We discuss results from a consultancy meeting on “Global Radiation Medicine: Educational Challenges for Academia,” which used a focus group methodology. Two STS-oriented projects are being implemented as an outcome of this meeting. The first aims to enhance global radiation medicine education by building capacity among physicians, health professionals, and medical students. The second project aims to strengthen research cooperation in radiation disaster medicine, including the psychosocial consequences of disasters. NAHU mobilizes both international and Japanese STS and disaster studies experts as a way to integrate outsider and insider perspectives on the Fukushima recovery process and draw on the contributions of health professionals, medical students, and specialists from relevant fields such as sociology, anthropology, history, and psychology.