A Woman's Life's Work in Radiation

by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

You sit tensely in the dentist's chair, trying not to flinch as the technician points the x-ray machine at your cheek. You may be thinking root canal, or periodontal disease, or worse. You're worrying about the possible pain and assured expense about to befall you, but chances are you aren't worrying about the danger of radiation from the x-ray machine. And for that piece of mind, you have Elizabeth Rodgers to thank.

Rodgers is one of three technicians in the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Devices and Radiological Health who calibrate the equipment used to test medical and dental x-ray machines throughout the United States for compliance with federal regulations. It's this exacting calibration and mathematical precision that help protect patients from overexposure to radiation.

Radiation has always been a part of Rodgers' 37-year federal career — and it's been a large part of her life.

The year is 1951. In the barren Nevada desert, atomic energy explodes into the sky. A plume of black smoke drifts through the air for hundreds of miles, raining down toxic radioactive dust onto the land and into the streams.

Thirteen years later, Rodgers hunches over columns of numbers, tallying the cases of thyroid cancer in Utah residents. These victims were downwind of the Nevada Test Site, where more than 100 nuclear weapons were detonated between 1951 and 1962. No one knew at the time that these tests would contaminate the food supply and cause a potentially fatal disease.

"We've come a long way since then," says Rodgers, who also remembers the days when radiation from x-ray machines was considered harmless. She recalls walking into a shoe store that had one of the x-ray machines used for shoe-fitting that were a common sight in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Rodgers thought it was exciting to slip her feet clad in new shoes under the x-ray machine to "see the bones."

Rodgers' career has taught her how radiation can both kill and save lives. Overexposure — whether from an atomic explosion or an x-ray machine — can be deadly, but the right amount of x-ray radiation can be crucial for locating tumors, broken bones, and other malformations. The correct dose of radiation can eradicate cancer, but excessive radiation can cause it.

Rodgers has first-hand experience with the radiation-cancer connection. She developed thyroid cancer 20 years after working as a technician in a chiropractor's office. "The chiropractor had me stay in the room at the same time the x-ray was taken to make sure the patient didn't move," Rodgers says. "At that time, they didn't know much about the dangers of x-ray radiation." After removal of part of her thyroid gland and treatment with the right amount of radiation, her cancer is gone now.

Rodgers went from keeping ledgers of thyroid cancer cases in an office to reading instrument gauges in a laboratory. Since the early 1970s, it has been the job of Rodgers and the Public Health Service bureau that became FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health to protect patients from the diseases caused by over-irradiation from x-ray machines. And, today, the 70 percent of Americans who get a medical or dental x-ray each year are protected from dangerous levels of radiation because of Rodgers' exacting calibrations.

By law, each x-ray machine must conform to FDA performance standards. A large sample of all the installed machines is inspected and tested annually to assure safety and reliability. Inspectors in all 50 states and the territories of Puerto Rico and Guam rely on Rodgers to furnish them with accurately calibrated instruments and the supplies they need to inspect and test the machines. She controls an inventory of over 2,000 pieces of equipment from her workstation in Rockville, Md.

"Any time they have a problem with equipment, they call Elizabeth," says Frank Cerra, acting chief of the Radiation Metrology Branch and Rodgers' supervisor. "She gives them what they need and does it in an efficient way. She is very good in dealing with people."

Ed Gloor can attest to that. As an x-ray inspection program quality assurance coordinator at the California Department of Health in Sacramento, Gloor has dealt with Rodgers for 20 years. "She's my lifeline," he says. "Calibration testing of x-ray equipment is very important. If we issue a cease-and-desist order that shuts a facility down because the x-ray equipment appears to be out of compliance — and we later find out it's our error due to defective test equipment — patient care suffers, the facility loses revenue, and litigation may result."

When she started working in FDA's calibration laboratory nearly 30 years ago, Rodgers supplied about 60 inspectors with equipment. "Now there are 236 just to inspect the mammography machines," she says. Under the Mammography Quality Standards Act of 1992, FDA regulates and annually inspects all mammography facilities in the United States. Since the inspection program began in 1995, nearly 50,000 inspections have been conducted, and Rodgers has been responsible for making sure each inspector had an accurately calibrated radiation meter when needed.

John L. McCrohan Jr., director of FDA's Division of Mammography Quality and Radiation Programs, stresses the importance of Rodgers' relationship with inspectors. "She's on the front line interfacing with them when they have a problem. She handles emergencies, and when a piece of equipment doesn't work, she makes sure a replacement is delivered overnight." Rodgers' dedication earned her an award this spring for meritorious service from the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors, an organization that promotes the highest standards of quality in radiation protection.

"Danger" and "high voltage" signs plaster the walls of the laboratory where the 5-foot-1-inch Rodgers hoists, mounts, and hauls around heavy test equipment. She has a lot of work to finish up before her "extended vacation" of two weeks. "I've never taken two whole weeks off before," she says. She confesses she is giving out her phone number at the beach where she is vacationing, and where she also plans to spend more time when she retires this year at the age of 78.

This is sad news for Charles Ditmer, an environmental health manager at the Bureau of Radiological Health in South Carolina. "We grew up with Ms. Rodgers," Ditmer says, speaking for himself and his fellow inspectors. "She is the one person we can always count on. They won't find anybody to fill her shoes."

About the Author

www.fda.gov
FDA is A United States government body that oversees medical devices, including contact lenses, intraocular lenses, excimer lasers and eyedrops. In the US, these products must be approved by the FDA before they can be marketed.