DOCTOR ON CALL

Join a conversation with Dr. Alla Shapiro, MD, Ph.D., who will discuss her book Doctor on Call: Chernobyl Responder, Jewish Refugee, Radiation Expert, released in 2021 on the 35th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe. Dr. Shapiro was a first physician-responder to the worst nuclear disaster in history: the explosion at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station in Ukraine on April 26, 1986. Information about the explosion was withheld from first responders, who were not given protective clothing. Amid an eerie and pervasive silence, Dr. Shapiro treated traumatized children as she tried to protect her own family. After years of persistent professional hostility that she and her family experienced as Jewish citizens of the USSR, four generations of the Shapiro family fled the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and eventually entered the US.

Motivated by her Chernobyl experiences, Alla Shapiro ultimately became one of the world’s leading experts in the development of medical countermeasures against radiation exposure. From 2003 to 2019, she worked for the FDA on disaster readiness and preparation. Dr. Shapiro alerts us to the deceptions that undermine our ability to respond to global disasters.

Dr. Alla Shapiro, M.D., Ph.D trained as pediatric hematologist in Kiev, Ukraine. She was one of the first physician responders to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster and headed the field team surveying the medical effects on children in the Chernobyl vicinity.  After arriving in the United States, Dr. Shapiro relicensed in pediatric hematology-oncology and worked in the federal government.  She served as a Medical Officer as a member of the Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Coordination Staff, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), US Food and Drug Administration before retiring in 2019.

You may order Doctor on Call: Chernobyl Responder, Jewish Refugee, Radiation Expert by Dr. Alla Shapiro, MD, Ph.D., from:

• Rakestraw Books in Danville: https://www.rakestrawbooks.com/book/9781942134732
• Mrs. Dalloway's Bookstore in Berkeley: https://www.mrsdalloways.com/book/9781942134732
• Your preferred local bookstore or online retailer

Admission is free. Upon registration, you will first receive a confirmation email. An hour before the program begins, we will email the Zoom link you need to join the event. If you don't see these emails, please check your spam/junk folder to retrieve them. We suggest you add notifications@wixevents.com to your contacts list as well.

Sponsored by CCJCC, Cong. B'nai Shalom and Jewish Book Council in partnership with Diablo Valley Hadassah.