For the second time in three years, Marinea Mehrhoff, supervisor of radiochemistry, received the Directors Award for the Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Radiation Protection from the Conference of Radiation Control Program Directors (CRCPD).

Marinea Mehrhoff at the State Hygienic Laboratory.

The CRCPD board of directors announced in May that it chose Mehrhoff for her work on its Committee for Expanding Radiological Preparedness in Public Health and the 2011 launch of the National Alliance for Radiation Readiness (NARR).

"I am thrilled to be a part of the work our committee has done," Mehrhoff said. "It has been very rewarding, and it was exciting to see the fruits of our labor actually taking place during the Fukushima, [Japan] event."

NARR is a coalition of public health, healthcare and emergency management organizations representing practitioners in the field of radiation readiness including state and local public health practitioners, elected officials at the state and local level, and first responder and first receiver groups. Representatives of federal agencies participate as liaison members.