John Dunning Boice Jr. is an American radiation epidemiologist and health physicist.

Life

Boice was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

in December 1945. His father, John Dunning Boice Sr., served in the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

. His mother, Irene, was the daughter of a Pennsylvania coal miner. His father's career necessitated frequent moves for the family during Boice's childhood including three years in France. The family settled in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

when he was fourteen. After graduating from Bel Air High School in the city, he enrolled at Texas Western College (now

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public university, public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the Univers ...

) graduating in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in physics and mathematics. He went on to receive a master's degree from

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

in nuclear engineering in 1968 and the following year was commissioned as an officer in the

US Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services which manages public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The assistant se ...

. During his early years with the Public Health Service, he continued his post-graduate studies at the

Harvard School of Public Health The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health is the public health school at Harvard University, located in the Longwood Medical Area of Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Hong Kong entrepreneur Chan Tseng-hsi in 2014 following a US$350 ...

, receiving a second master's degree in medical physics in 1974 and his Doctor of Science degree in epidemiology in 1977. His doctoral thesis was entitled ''Breast cancer and other malignancies following repeated fluoroscopic chest examinations''. He went on to develop the Radiation Epidemiology Branch at the

National Cancer Institute The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...

and became its first director in 1984. Boice retired from the Public Health Service in 1996 with the rank of Captain and became Scientific Director of the International Epidemiology Institute, a biomedical research organization founded in 1994. Since 2000, he has been Professor of Medicine at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

. Since 2012 he has served as President of the

National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP), formerly the National Committee on Radiation Protection and Measurements, and before that the Advisory Committee on X-Ray and Radium Protection (ACXRP), is a U.S. organization. ...

.Brent, John L. (2009)
"Introduction of John D. Boice Jr, The 2009 Taylor Lecturer
.

2008 Alumni Award of Merit winners: John Dunning Boice, Jr., SM '74, SD '77
/ref>Jasso, Laura (Fall 1999)
"UTEP's Distinguished Alumnus for Professional Achievement John Boice Jr."
pp. 4–5. ''The Nova Quarterly''

Distinguished scientific service

Radiation Effects Research Foundation The Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) is a joint U.S.-Japan research organization responsible for studying the medical effects of radiation and associated diseases in humans for the welfare of the survivors and all humankind.Introduction ...

, Science Council member * International Epidemiology Institute, Scientific Director *

International Commission on Radiological Protection The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) is an independent, international, non-governmental organization, with the mission to protect people, animals, and the environment from the harmful effects of ionising radiation. Its ...

commissioner *

emeritus member *

United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

, U.S. delegate * Veterans Advisory Board on Dose Reconstruction, member

Editorial service

* ''

Journal of the National Cancer Institute The ''Journal of the National Cancer Institute'' (''JNCI'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal covering research in oncology that was established in August 1940. It is published monthly by Oxford University Press and is edited by Patricia A. Gan ...

'', Associate Editor * ''

Journal of Radiological Protection ''Journal of Radiological Protection'' is a quarterly Peer review, peer-reviewed scientific journal covering Radiobiology, radiobiological research on all aspects of radiological protection, including non-ionizing as well as ionizing radiations. It ...

'', International Advisor * , Senior Editor

Awards

* ???? - Distinguished Service Medal from the

U.S. Public Health Service The United States Public Health Service (USPHS or PHS) is a collection of agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services which manages public health, containing nine out of the department's twelve operating divisions. The assistant se ...

* 1994 -

Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award was established in 1959 in honor of Ernest Lawrence, a scientist who helped elevate United States, American physics to the status of world leader in the field. Lawrence was the inventor of the cyclotron, an parti ...

from the

U.S. Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear we ...

* 1994 -

Gorgas Medal The Gorgas Medal was originally established as an annual award in 1915 by the Medical Reserve Corps Association of New York in honor of Surgeon General William C. Gorgas, U.S. Army. The award was based on a writing competition open to members of th ...

from the American Military Surgeons of the United States * 1999 -

Distinguished Alumnus Award * 2002 -

Health Physics Society The Health Physics Society (HPS) is a nonprofit scientific professional organization whose mission is excellence in the science and practice of radiation safety. It is based in the United States and the specific purposes of the society's activi ...

R.S. Landauer Memorial Lecturer, ''Radiation Risks, a Review of What We Know from Medical Radiation Studies'' * 2007 -

Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award * 2007 - Failla Memorial Lecture from the Greater New York Chapter of the Health Physics Society and the Radiological Medical Physics Society * 2008 -

Alumni Award of Merit * 2009 - NCRP Thirty-Third Lauriston S. Taylor Lecturer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boice, John D. Jr. American epidemiologists Cancer epidemiologists Health physicists Radiation health effects researchers National Institutes of Health people Health Physics Society Vanderbilt University faculty Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences faculty Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute alumni Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health alumni University of Texas at El Paso alumni 1945 births Living people Scientists from Brooklyn 20th-century American physicists 21st-century American physicists