Fernald Community Cohort

Welcome to the Fernald Community Cohort website

The Fernald Community Cohort consists of the 9782 persons who participated in the Fernald Medical Monitoring Program (FMMP) from 1990-2008. The FMMP was a eighteen year medical surveillance program for community residents living near the former US Department of Energy uranium processing site at Fernald (near Cincinnati), Ohio. Much of the cohort never received exposure beyond the background exposure received by the general population. Extensive uranium dose reconstruction using methods developed by the CDC demonstrate that over 60% of the cohort had such minimal exposure to uranium and radon that their cumulative ionizing radiation exposure was less than 3.2% over lifetime background levels.

Because the cohort contains a large group of individuals without exposure, the data and biospecimens of the cohort can be used to address a wide range of research questions, both non-exposure related and exposure related. Large amounts of data and biospecimens from program participants have been archived for future research studies.

Research Director: Susan M. Pinney, PhD, E-mail: Susan.Pinney@uc.edu