Andrew Karam, Ph.D., CHP
Dr. Andrew Karam has been working in radiation safety longer than he cares to think about. In that time, he’s done a lot of stuff, some of it interesting and even important. Beginning with an 8-year stint in the Navy’s Nuclear Power Program, he has held positions in radiation safety programs, managing the radiological arm of an environmental consulting firm, working on radiological and nuclear emergency response planning for the NYC Health Department, and serving as a civilian scientist and subject matter expert for the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Division as well as for a national laboratory run by the Department of Homeland Security, from which he has recently retired.
In addition to his work as a radiation safety professional, he has helped train emergency and medical responders in Japan after the Fukushima accident, conducted several missions on behalf of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), co-authored reports for the National Council on Radiation Protection and the National Academies of Science, helped conduct training for Interpol, and has been active with national and international radiation protection associations.
As a scientist, he earned a doctorate in Environmental Science, where he examined natural radiation exposure and how it has changed over the history of life on Earth. His most recent book, Radiological and Nuclear Terrorism, was published by Springer in 2021, and he is currently working on Natural Radiation and Radioactivity, also for Springer. He is currently examining the health effects of radiation exposure during long-duration space travel and occupancy.
Andrew considers himself a “human, optimist, father, spouse, friend, teacher, writer, scientist, and ever-curious.” His focus in writing is “…to help translate the science I’ve learned into plain concepts and language that my readers will understand and appreciate; if I can’t, then it’s probably my fault for not understanding the material well enough myself.”
