Fernald Medical Monitoring Program (FMMP)

The Fernald Community Cohort (FCC) consists of 9782 persons who participated in the Fernald Medical Monitoring Program (FMMP) from 1990-2008. The FMMP program was funded by a settlement of class action litigation between community residents and National Lead of Ohio, a contractor for the DOE. The Fernald Settlement Fund was administered by the US Federal Court, which maintains oversight of the Fernald Medical Monitoring Program (FMMP). 

The FMMP was a eighteen year medical surveillance program for community residents living within five miles of the former US Department of Energy uranium processing site at Fernald (near Cincinnati), Ohio. Eligibility for the FMMP required residence within a five-mile radius of the uranium processing facility at Fernald, Ohio, for a minimum continuous two-year period between January 1, 1952 and December 18, 1984.  Former workers at the plant were excluded from this medical surveillance program, but are eligible to participate in a separate Fernald Workers’ Medical Monitoring Program.

The initial comprehensive medical examinations conducted as part of the Fernald Medical Monitoring Program (FMMP) began in the autumn of 1990. The FMMP provided 9,782 initial examinations and 33,394 re-examinations. Participants also were asked to complete yearly questionnaires requesting information about new medical problems and recent hospitalizations and surgeries, resulting in 94,771 completed questionnaires from adults.  All data collected from the FMMP were coded by certified medical record coders, double entered and verified into a SAS database on site of the examinations.

Demographics (N=9782)

In 2020 we sent a newsletter to all members of the Fernald Community Cohort for whom we had a valid address. Enclosed with the newsletter was an health information update questionnaire, obtaining information about new cancer diagnoses and chronic disease conditions.

Read the Entire 2020 Newsletter (PDF)

At the first examination, biospecimens from Program participants were banked: three 1-ml aliquots of whole blood, plasma, serum, urine and urine with buffer, or 15 aliquots per person for future analyses. Additional serum and plasma biospecimens were collected at the time of the second examination. Whole blood and serum were archived in 2006-2008. Urine of some participants also was archived at that time. We have a large inventory database of all of the biospecimens, with queries that enable us to retrieve information about biospecimens linked to a specific program participant.  

Both the data and biospecimens are available to approved investigators for future research studies. See the web page on Research Resources of the Fernald Community Cohort for more information.

Table 1: Diagnostic procedures in FMMP

Diagnoses of FCC cohort members

• Read More About the FMMP (PDF)
• Schedule of Diagnostic Tests (PDF)
• Schedule of Lab Tests on Blood (PDF)
• Schedule of Blood Tests on Urine (PDF)

Back to Top