Mr. Dennis recently retired after 33 years at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where he had been the agency's international expert in laser and optical radiation safety and safety standards. His responsibilities included maintaining the CDRH radiation safety standard for laser products, developing regulatory policies, and guiding CDRH reviewers in report review criteria.
During his time at CDRH, Mr. Dennis represented the agency through leadership roles in national and international standards organizations and committees, including American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Accredited Standards Committees (ASC) Z136 and B 11.21 and the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Technical Committee (TC) 115. He has held the chairmanship of IEC TC 76, Optical radiation safety and laser equipment, since 1998, and is a technical advisor for the U.S. National Committee (USNC) to the IEC, chairing the U.S. committee on laser and optical radiation safety. He also served as general chairman of the Laser Institute of America's (LIA) International Laser Safety Conferences in 1997 and 1999.
Mr. Dennis has developed and presented training courses on the Radiation Control Act and its regulation and on radiation physics and biological effects. He has also authored and co-authored numerous papers on laser safety standards.
Prior to joining the CDRH, Mr. Dennis spent 15 years in industry, working with Hadron, Inc., and TRG Inc., as well as the Naval Material Laboratory. He is a graduate of Fordham University in New York City.
Mr. Dennis will be honored with the Lord Kelvin Award at the IEC 2010 General Meeting in Seattle. For more information on the event, visit www.iec2010.org.