What is Dose-Response Assessment Boot Camp?  

It is a new initiative providing  intensive, in-depth hands-on training in hazard characterization and dose-response assessment for human health risk assessments. This week-long course with emphasis on dose response assessment is based on our popular chemical risk assessment training sessions developed and presented to various audiences in the past decade. It is designed to provide systematic training in current assessment practices as well as in the latest methods in human health chemical risk assessments.  The course is for beginners through experienced toxicological risk   assessors who wish to learn advanced methods and enhance their understanding and skills in the basics.  The students will learn all aspects of hazard characterization and dose response assessment, and practice the skills learned in the classroom.  Upon completing the course, the participants will be able to derive and evaluate risk values and supporting documentation for non-cancer and cancer risk assessments and will receive a certificate documenting their successful completion of the course.  Five Certification Management (CM) points are available from the American Board of Industrial Hygienists (ABIH).   It is also worth 4 Continuing Education Units (CEU).  Click here for a Boot Camp Brochure.

 

This course is endorsed by the Society of Toxicology (SOT).

And a recognized event by the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA).

 

Current Courses

 

October 18-22, 2010

 

Next  course will be offered October 18-22, 2010. The course hours are 8:00am - 5:00pm Monday - Thursday, and 8:00am - 2:00pm, Friday. There is also some evening work required (daily homework assignments). It will be held in Washington, DC at the Noblis facility, located at 3150 Fairview Park Drive South in Falls Church, VA 22042. Click here to download brochure and registration form or click here to open an on-line registration form.

 

Course Fee
Take $100 off if you register by June 1, 2010!
General ................................... ….. $1,795
State/Local/Tribal Employee ….. $1,295

 

Course fee includes
• Tuition
• Take home reference binder
• Morning and afternoon breaks
• Certificate of completion

• 5 Certification Management Points from ABIH

Payment Policy
Registration is accepted on a first come, first serve basis. Full payment (in US funds) must be received in order to process your registration. To register, please mail or fax (513-542-7487) the enclosed registration form with credit card information or check/money order (payable to TERA) to: Boot Camp Registration, TERA, 2300 Montana Ave, Ste 409, Cincinnati, OH 45211. Please call 513-542- 7475 x 10 with questions.

 

Cancellation/Substitution Policy
Cancellations made on or before September 1, 2010 will be issued a refund less $150 administrative fee per person. Cancellations received between September 1, 2010 and September 30, 2010 will be issued a refund of 50%. No refunds will be issued after October 1, 2010. Substitutions are allowed with additional charge, but must be made by Tuesday, October 12, 2010. All requests for substitutions or cancellations must be made in writing via email to Patricia Nance at nance@TERA.org.

 

Accommodations
Hotel rooms are available at the Marriot Fairview Park located at 3111 Fairview park Drive, Falls Church, VA (Directly across the street from the Noblis Facility). For reservations call 1-800-228-9290 or 1-703-849-9400 and ask for the TERA Boot Camp Room Block. Rates for attendees are $179 per night. The deadline for making hotel reservations for this rate is Monday, September 13, 2010.

 

Who should attend?

Risk assessors and toxicologists who conduct and write chemical assessments 

Risk assessors and toxicologists who review chemical assessments  

Risk managers or policymakers who use the results of chemical assessments and want to fully understand the processes involved in risk value development

 

Participant requirements

A basic understanding of toxicology    

An interest in developing their skills in human health risk assessment

 

What you will learn 

 

1.  Non-cancer and Cancer Risk Assessment Principles and Methods:  Learn how to  critically analyze effect data, understand toxicokinetic data and their use in understanding mode of action (MOA) and developing risk values. Learn how to incorporate uncertainty factors, utilize frameworks for considering MOA and human  relevance, and learn information synthesis approaches for hazard characterization and critical study identification, and calculation of risk values for non-cancer (e.g., reference doses or tolerable intakes) and cancer endpoints (e.g., cancer slope factors). Learn the latest methodologies used in dose-response assessment. 

 

 2.  Dosimetric Adjustment Methods in Dose Response:  Learn how to develop interspecies oral dose adjustments for non-cancer and cancer assessment, cancer unit risk or slope factor conversion, inhalation exposure concentration unit conversion, and human equivalent concentration (HEC) calculation for particle and vapor exposure using various modeling approaches.  Applications of the results of physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling will also be introduced. 

 

3.  Benchmark Dose (BMD) Modeling and Application in Risk Assessment:   Learn how to do BMD modeling for non-cancer and cancer dose-response assessments and get hands-on experience using the latest EPA software.  Learn how to appropriately apply BMD modeling, choose models and parameters, select data and run models, and select the appropriate BMD as a point of departure in a human health risk assessment.  The course addresses all of the models in the EPA software, including dichotomous continuous, cancer, and nested models.

 

4.  Principles for the Application of Uncertainty Factors and Chemical Specific Adjustment Factor (CSAF) Methodology: Learn the concept of uncertainty factors and how they are used in non-cancer risk and safety assessment by USEPA and other organizations, and how data are used to   support values other than defaults.  Learn how to develop and use CSAFs according to the methods of the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), which includes the use of mechanistic and toxicokinetic data to replace default uncertainty factors for interspecies extrapolation and intraspecies variability in deriving risk values such as RfDs and Tolerable Concentrations (TCs).   

 

5.  Comprehensive Risk Assessment Practice with Peer Review:  Learn to develop, present and review a comprehensive non-cancer and cancer assessment for a complex sample chemical over the course of the entire week.

 

 

Boot Camp Software

 

Below are the links for thesoftware you will need on your laptop for the Boot Camp Course. 


RDDR (zip file, although this is EPA software, it is older software and not available on the EPA website)

MPPD - http://www.ara.com/products/mppd.htm (this link takes you to a registration form that you must complete to receive an email with the link to the software)

U.S. EPA's Benchmark Dose Software (takes you to the USEPA's page for the software, you can register to receive updates or skip the registration)

 

 

Look at the Frequently Asked Questions for more details or for more information, please contact Ms. Patricia Nance at 513-542-7475 x25 or nance@tera.org or for specific course content contact Dr. Lynne Haber at 513-542-7475 x 17 or haber@tera.org.