PSR Launches 11-week Training on Nuclear Health Risks and Advocacy October 25, 2025

In April this year, Ira Helfand, co-founder of PSR and past president of International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), offered a chilling assessment to the audience gathered at UN headquarters in New York City. Attendees included signees to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Their attention was undivided.   

“Like the chronic smoker who lives in denial about the risk of developing lung cancer, we have largely convinced ourselves that nuclear war will never happen,” said Helfand. “The truth is, we are closer to a nuclear war today than we have ever been and yet we go about our daily life as though this sword of Damocles were not hanging over us.”

November 3, 2025, to February 2, 2026, weekly on Mondays, 5 p.m. in Arizona 

PSR is heeding Helfand’s words.

On November 3, PSR will launch an 11-week online course, “Radiation and Nuclear Weapons: Health Risks and Advocacy Training,” an 11-week program designed for health professionals and others committed to advocacy against threats of nuclear weapons, nuclear power, and radiation exposure.

The program runs from November 3, 2025, to February 2, 2026, weekly on Mondays, 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. in Arizona, through December. Classes feature a one-hour lecture and half-hour discussion. Classes will not be held on the weeks of December 22, 29, and January 19. 

Registration deadline is October 31.

The interactive course will equip participants with the scientific understanding and advocacy tools needed to address the full spectrum of health impacts of radiation — from uranium mining to nuclear weapons testing and use. You’ll hear directly from leading experts, public health advocates, and impacted community members, and you will gain practical strategies to advocate for a safer, healthier, nuclear-free future.

Participants will also develop advocacy and communications skills to bring the health perspective into policy debates, media conversations, and community action.

No prior knowledge of nuclear weapons or radiation exposure is necessary to actively participate and gain from the course. A certificate of completion will be awarded at the end for registered participants.

At PSR, we believe that every health professional and community member should have the opportunity to join this training regardless of financial circumstance. Registration is offered on a sliding scale, and no one will be turned away.

Significant Health Risks from Radiation

Radiation exposure from nuclear weapons and related industries poses significant health risks, disproportionately impacting women, children, Indigenous communities, and others facing systemic inequities. For decades, health professionals have been influential advocates for a safer, more secure world free of nuclear weapons. Despite these harms and this history of progress, public health perspectives are often missing from current discussions on nuclear policy at the local, national, and international level.

The training will prepare advocates to fill this role as local community advocates and policy experts, with particular preparation for Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) hearings, scheduled in the spring of 2026  across the U.S. nuclear weapons complex. Participants will leave the program ready to contribute informed, credible, and powerful health voices in these critical debates.

This program equips health professionals with:

• A comprehensive understanding of radiation, including radioactive pollution, and its health effects.
• Knowledge of the history and current policies shaping nuclear weapons and energy.
• Skills to communicate effectively with policymakers, the media, and the public.
• Connections to communities directly affected by nuclear contamination.
• Opportunities to engage in real-time advocacy, including testimony and public comment on nuclear weapons policy.

This program is specifically intended for:

• Physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, physical therapists, and other clinicians
• Medical and public health students
• Public health professionals
• Allied health professionals and researchers
• Community advocates working on radiation and nuclear issues

November 3, 2025, to February 2, 2026, weekly on Mondays, 5 p.m. in Arizona