2019 年度 HICARE/IAEA Internship Report

4th grade student, Program of Medicine
School of Medicine, Hiroshima University
Ayaka Ono

1. Overview

2. My job during the internship

1) Writing an article about Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Cancer (BRPC)
2) Preparing for the Technical Meeting held at Fukushima Medical University
and making a booklet published after the meetingⅰ. Studying about the past meetings through reading published booklets
ⅱ. Editing data about the participants of the meetings in the pastⅲ. Creating a programⅳ. Japanese translation/data work of the questionnaire given after themeetingⅴ. Translating a booklet published in Fukushima prefecture
ⅵ. Creating the table of contents and editing the booklet published after theTechnical Meeting3) My presentation at the Interns’ forum

3. What I learned from the other interns and the staff

4. Acknowledgments1. Overview

Period：April 1st, 2019 〜 June 28th, 2019
Dispatch source ： Hiroshima International Council for Health Care of theRadiation-Exposed (HICARE)
Dispatch destination：International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
Assigned department：Director’s office, Division of Human Health,
Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications

Purpose：To understand the significance and necessity of medical treatment for
the victim of the atomic bomb at a global point of view. To develop humanresources who will inherit the research results and results of medical treatment
for the radiation-exposed in Hiroshima.

With the recommendation and support of HICARE, I experienced a lot ofdifferent things as an intern at the IAEA in Vienna, Austria. I used the fourmonths given as a medical research training period at the fourth year of theSchool of Medicine, Hiroshima University.

As I was born in Hiroshima, I learned about the atomic bomb every year fromelementary school to high school. I also studied about radiation therapy as amedical student, so I was very interested in the peaceful use of nuclear energy. Inaddition, when I had lived in the U.S.A. for three years, I learned that there arevarious thoughts about the atomic bomb. I wanted to know more about what
other people think about nuclear weapons and to tell people what I learned.
When I found out that there is an internship at the IAEA where people from allover the world work for some form of nuclear power, I thought this would be avaluable experience and applied for this internship.

2. My job during the internshipAt the IAEA, I worked at the Director’s office. I worked on writing an article
under the supervision of Dr. May Abdel Wahab who is the director of theDivision of Human Health, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications(NAHU). At the same time, I also helped Mr. Uwe Scholz to prepare for themeeting held in May, 2019 at Fukushima Medical University and to make abooklet related to the meeting. I also made a presentation at the Interns’ forum,
which was held for all internships working at NAHU.

(Picture : With Dr. Wahab, the director of NAHU)

1) Writing an article about Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Cancer (BRPC)

On the first week, I talked with Dr. Wahab, the director of NAHU. She told me
to work on an article comparing four treatments for BRPC during my internshipperiod. The four treatments are; only surgery, neoadjuvant chemotherapy,neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, and Stereotactic Body Radio Therapy (SBRT).
Dr. Wahab helped me writing the article, and I worked on this article throughout
my internship period.

After coming back to Japan, I prepared for a presentation about my internship,
held in Hiroshima University with the guidance of professor Yasushi Nagata andassociate professor Yuji Murakami of Hiroshima University's radiation oncology.
I am now still working on my article.

(Picture : My presentation at Hiroshima University)

2) Preparing for the Technical Meeting held at Fukushima Medical Universityand making a booklet published after the meeting.

At the end of May 2019, a technical meeting about the impact of the Fukushima
Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was held. This was co-hosted by the IAEA andFukushima Medical University. Mr. Takashi Oba, assistant professor of radiation
health management at Fukushima Medical University, went back to Japan at
mid-April, so I took over his work.

ⅰ. Studying about the past meetings through reading published booklets

IAEA had held several meetings on the Fukushima nuclear accident, and had
published a booklet and the “Health in Disasters Handbook: A Science andTechnology Studies Practicum for Medical Students and HealthcareProfessionals.” I was asked to read, study and understand them until I wasactually involved in the project.

At the time of the nuclear accident, I was fifteen years old and only knew theinformation provided by TV news and the Internet. I was able to learn more
about the accident not only through the booklet but also from what Mr. Oba,
who was actually working at a hospital in Fukushima at that time, told me.

ⅱ. Editing data about the participants of the meetings in the past

The IAEA has been collecting data about the experts who have participatedin the former conferences related to the Fukushima nuclear accident, so I
added the data of the participants for the conference in January and May,
2019. The data was specifically, the information on gender, country of origin
and continent, areas of specialization, and the number of participants. I wasable to know how the data was used after the questionnaires were collected. I
thought it was important and necessary that the participants' backgrounds
and expertise are carefully considered so that there is no major bias.

However, the percentage of women is still overwhelmingly small, and I feltthat women are not playing active parts in society even when viewed
globally.

It was very impressive when Mr. Scholz said, “People who work for theIAEA, including interns like you, will be treated as a member of the IAEA,
not a person from their native country,” when I asked what I should do
about the origins of the participants from the IAEA.

ⅲ. Creating a program

We created a program that included the time and the title of the speech andthe social background of each presenter. There were changes in the numberof performers until the last minute.

I faced a lot of difficulties, but there was also much to learn, such as realizing

the importance and convenience of conducting meetings via the Interneteven without being able to meet in person.

ⅳ. Japanese translation/data work of the questionnaire given after the meeting

I created the questionnaire which was given after the meeting in Fukushima.
I also edited the data of the actually collected results and translated theminto English. When preparing the questionnaire, I carefully checked whether
the Japanese language was natural or not. As it was a digital questionnaire, Ialso checked the questionnaire after it was posted on the Internet by theprogramming department.

While preparing for this meeting, I often realized that each of the experts
worked together in their own field of expertise.

ⅴ. Translating a booklet published in the Fukushima prefectureI translated a booklet written in Japanese for the local residents inFukushima into English. I was asked questions mainly about the author, forexample, what kind of social background he/she was from and what advice
he/she had.

ⅵ. Creating the table of contents and editing the booklet published after theTechnical Meeting

A booklet including papers from various viewpoints on the Fukushima
nuclear accident and subsequent residents' lives was published. This waswritten by presenters from the Technical Meeting and various experts whowere listed as presenters but could not participate due to circumstances.

I had to be careful with delays in communication due to national holidays,and I realized the difference in thinking about deadlines in each country,

which was a very interesting experience. I also had to be very careful when
editing the data because it contained many papers.

3) My presentation at the Interns’ forum

A meeting called the Interns’ forum was held once a month at the IAEA. This is ameeting for the interns working at NAHU. Each time one intern makes apresentation about whatever he/she is interested in. After the presentation, all
the interns discuss something related to the presentation. I was selected to makea presentation in June because I was going back to Japan at the end of the month.

Before my presentation, I discussed what I should present about with the lady
who was in charge. She said, “How did you learn about the atomic bomb atschool? For example, do you learn that someone is bad or responsible for it?”This question surprised me so much. I said, “We don’t learn who is wrong orresponsible for it. We learn what happened after the bomb and what kind ofhealth problems the victims have, and that we should never have another war.”
After this discussion, I decided to present about my home town, Hiroshima andwhat I learned about the atomic bomb at school. Before starting my presentation,
the lady in charge asked the other interns how they learned about the atomicbomb. I was very surprised that everyone said they just learned the word “atomicbomb – Hiroshima/Nagasaki.” I also thought this might be a natural reaction
because the atomic bomb is just a historical fact for them.

3. What I learned from the other interns and staff

There were many interns coming from various countries at NAHU. From the US,

Spain, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, Bangladesh, etc.
We had an international cuisine party, and everyone brought some kind of local
cuisine. We learned a lot through enjoying each food culture and talking about
what it’s like in our own country. One thing I can‘t forget is that wheneversomeone asked Christina where she is from, she always answered she is from
“Barcelona,” not “Spain.” The Catalan independence movement was a really
important and familiar issue for someone from Barcelona like her. I thought thisis something similar with the fact that the atomic-bomb is just learned as“atomic-bomb – Hiroshima/Nagasaki” in other countries, although it is a really
important fact for Hiroshima citizens including myself.

I was asked where I came from the first time I met someone at the IAEA. When I
said I came from Japan, I was also asked which part of Japan I came from. I wasvery happy to know that a lot of people are interested in Japan. Some of themeven told me they have been to Japan, and others said they’ve always wanted tovisit Japan. One intern from Bosnia-Herzegovina told me that a lot of people inher country have a good impression of Japan, and Japan is called “The place
where the sun rises.” That was one of the most memorable things for me.

I especially enjoyed talking with the two working in the same office, who were anintern from Mexico and a staff from Greek. They were often speaking in both
English and Spanish and taught me how to say hello in many languages. I alsotaught them how to say hello in Japanese. We enjoyed saying hello in manylanguages every morning.

At the IAEA, many events were held at the common space on the 1st floor, suchas showing culture from some countries or showing projects worked by a branchof the IAEA. From Japan, a children’s chore group from Hyogo prefecture wassinging songs once and women wearing kimono were playing the koto at anothertime. There was also a kind of cuisine party to enjoy delicious food from variouscountries.

All the experiences during my stay in Vienna and everything I learned from
communicating with the interns and the staff from all over the world areimportant and precious for me.

(Picture : With the interns from NAHU at the IAEA)

4. Acknowledgments

Through my internship, I was able to know what kind of projects the people atthe IAEA are working for.

I would like to thank the other interns and the staff I worked with at the IAEA. I
would also like to thank the staff of the Hiroshima Prefectural Office andHiroshima University for giving me this precious experience.
I really appreciate it.