Speakers

Rebecca Abergel, Ph.D., raised in France, earned her degree from the École Normale Supérieure of Paris before completing graduate and postdoctoral studies in inorganic chemistry at UC Berkeley and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She joined Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2009, becoming the LBNL Heavy Element Chemistry Group Leader in 2018, with research focused on the coordination chemistry of heavy and f-elements for applications in chelation, bioremediation, and alpha-immunotherapy. She co-founded HOPO Therapeutics to advance clinical development of a drug product that received FDA Investigational New Drug status, and currently serves as president of the Radiation Research Society. Her numerous honors include election as an AAAS Fellow (2019), two DOE Secretary of Energy Achievement Honor Awards (2020), and an ACS WCC Rising Star award (2017).

Brooke Buddemeier is a certified health physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, providing technical leadership on radiological and nuclear terrorism risk assessments and response preparedness, including leading the technical team behind FEMA's 2022 and 2023 nuclear detonation response guidance. He serves as scientific vice president and board member of the NCRP, contributing to several key reports on radiological incident response and recovery. He has also supported national emergency response through NNSA's Radiological Assistance Program and international preparedness efforts with organizations like the ICRP. He holds a master's degree in Radiological Health Physics from San Jose State University and a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from UC Santa Barbara.

 Gregory R. Ciottone, M.D., is president emeritus of the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine and the first full professor in Harvard Medical School's history appointed on the basis of expertise in Disaster Medicine, where he also directs the Beth Israel Deaconess Fellowship in Disaster Medicine. He serves as director of medical preparedness for Harvard's National Preparedness Leadership Initiative and, as of 2025, special advisor for medical preparedness at the U.S. National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health. A former DMAT commander at Ground Zero on 9/11 and longtime consultant to the White House Medical Unit, he brings 25 years of emergency medicine practice and over 500 aeromedical flight missions to his work. He is the founding editor-in-chief of Ciottone's Disaster Medicine and has received numerous honors, including a 2024 Doctor Honoris Causa from Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier.

David DiGregorio is principal owner of D2 Emergency Management Consulting, LLC and serves as director of hazardous materials response for the Division of Disaster Medicine at Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians at BIDMC. He previously directed the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services Hazardous Materials Emergency Response/Special Operations Division from 2016 to 2023, and retired in 2014 after 32 years with the U.S. Army and Massachusetts Army National Guard, including service with the 1st WMD-Civil Support Team and as Deputy State Surgeon, earning the Legion of Merit and Meritorious Service Medal. He holds an M.S. in Emergency Management from Massachusetts Maritime Academy and both a B.S. and M.S. in Physician Assistant Studies from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and served as a graduate capstone advisor in Emergency Management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy from 2015 to 2021.

Mark D. Ervin, M.D., has served as associate director of the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS) since 2020, with research interests spanning cutaneous radiation injury, predictive triage, and radiation medicine in austere environments. Prior to this role, he was chief of operational medicine for the 59th Medical Wing, USAF, where he oversaw 43 units advancing wartime resuscitative and surgical care and served as a subject matter expert on autonomous patient care and austere surgical support for special operations. Since joining REAC/TS, he has collaborated with the Department of Energy, RITN, and international partners to advance radiation disaster response and mass triage solutions, while continuing to practice as an active general surgeon in San Antonio. A 1992 Emory University medical graduate, he has authored numerous papers on military medicine, biosecurity, and radiation injury.

Nobuyuki Hirohashi, M.D., Ph.D. is a professor at Hiroshima University’s Research Institute for Radiation Biology and Medicine and director of the Radiation Disaster Medicine Support Center. As an emergency and critical care physician, he has extensive experience in disaster and radiation emergency medicine, including deployment after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. His work focuses on radiation disaster medical preparedness, professional training, and research on radiation and combined injuries.

Shane B. Kappler, M.D., MS M.D., MBA, FACEP, FCCP, is a dual board-certified emergency medicine and critical care medicine physician who serves as associate professor at Georgetown School of Medicine and director of Biothreats for MedStar Health, including medical director roles for the MedStar Biocontainment Unit and the federal RESPTC in FEMA Region III. With a sustained career in disaster preparedness, he has taught graduate-level courses on biothreat response at Georgetown for over a decade and previously served as director of Disaster Preparedness at Harvard Medical School's CHA program in Boston. He continues to teach CBRN education at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and played key leadership roles during the COVID-19 pandemic in therapeutic research and surge capacity planning. He currently serves as a subject matter expert for NETEC, contributing to the development of the National Special Pathogen System (NSPS) for highly contagious infectious disease care.

Ziad N. Kazzi, M.D., FAAEM, FACEP, FACMT, FAACT, is professor of emergency medicine at Emory University School of Medicine and president of the American College of Medical Toxicology, with internationally recognized expertise in medical toxicology, disaster medicine, and radiological/nuclear emergency preparedness. He holds multiple leadership roles, including co-director of the Center for Advanced Emergency Care, director of the International Medical Toxicology Fellowship Program, and associate medical director of the Southern Regional Disaster Response System, and has spent over two decades advancing radiological preparedness through work with the CDC, IAEA, and the Radiation Injury Treatment Network. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications on radiation emergency readiness and has trained more than 25 international medical toxicologists while helping establish toxicology programs and poison centers worldwide. Through his leadership, research, and global education efforts, Dr. Kazzi has become a respected international voice in radiological preparedness and medical toxicology.

Brittany Lockhart currently serves as the acting deputy associate administrator (SES) for the NNSA Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation (CTCP), where she oversees programs countering nuclear terrorism and proliferation and manages capabilities for nuclear and radiological incident response worldwide. She previously served as assistant deputy administrator for Strategic Materials Production Modernization within the Office of Defense Programs, leading multi-billion-dollar nuclear modernization programs to sustain the nation's weapons stockpile capabilities. Earlier in her career, she held various production modernization roles within NNSA and served as a project leader at the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, conducting independent safety reviews of Department of Energy design and construction projects. She holds degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia and the University of Maine.

Alegría Montoro, Ph.D., is head of the biodosimetry laboratory within the Radiation Protection Service at La Fe University and Polytechnic Hospital (Valencia, Spain), with over 25 years of internationally recognized expertise in radiobiology, biological dosimetry, and radiological/nuclear emergency preparedness. She has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, co-invented a European patent for radioprotective formulations, and coordinates the Spanish National Biological Dosimetry Protocol while leading one of Spain's first automated biodosimetry platforms integrating AI. She holds active roles in major international networks including RENEB, EURADOS, BioDoseNet, and WHO REMPAN, and was appointed the only Spanish member of the Scientific Council of IABERD in 2026. Her continued leadership extends to multiple scientific committees for international conferences on biological dosimetry and CBRNe preparedness.

Kirk Rector, Ph.D., is the director of stable and medical isotope programs at Laser Isotope Separations Technologies, where he leads the development and industrialization of laser-based isotope enrichment technologies for stable and medical isotopes. His work focuses on advancing CRISLA-based enrichment, scaling isotope production, and building secure, domestic supply chains for isotopes critical to medicine, research, national security, and advanced manufacturing. Prior to this role, Rector spent more than two decades at Los Alamos National Laboratory, including program director within the DOE Isotope Program, where he directed multi-institution programs spanning isotope production, AI/ML automation, additive manufacturing, and infrastructure modernization.

Nick Studer, M.D., is a REAC/TS staff physician and practicing civilian emergency physician, currently serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve following 16 years of service in the U.S. Army. His background includes volunteer work with the Brevard County (FL) Office of Emergency Management and service at the Florida Department of Health's Radiological Instrument Maintenance & Calibration Laboratory from 2006-2010. After earning his medical degree from the University of South Florida in 2014, he completed a Transitional Year Internship, Emergency Medicine Residency, Emergency Medical Services Fellowship, and a Disaster Medicine Fellowship, along with numerous courses in operational and prehospital medicine. He has published extensively on topics relevant to military and emergency medicine.