U of A specialist appointed special adviser on isotope shortage
Last Updated: Monday, June 15, 2009 | 10:22 AM MT
CBC News
A nuclear medicine specialist at the University of Alberta has been named the special adviser on medical isotopes to federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.
Dr. Alexander (Sandy) McEwan chairs the department of oncology at the U of A faculty of medicine and dentistry, and he is an adjunct professor of the department of radiology and diagnostic imaging. He has been a member of Health Canada's ad hoc group of experts on medical isotopes since 2007 and is a past president of the Society of Nuclear Medicine.
His appointment will last for the duration of the current shortage of medical isotopes, created by the closure of the Chalk River nuclear plant in Ontario.
The reactor was shut down May 15 after inspectors detected a heavy-water leak inside the facility. It is not clear when the Chalk River site will be running again.
Isotopes are used in diagnostic tests for cancer and heart disease. Chalk River produced a third of the world's isotope supply. There are four other facilities in the world that produce medical isotopes.
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