Francis A Cucinotta earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from Rutgers University and a doctoral degree from Old Dominion University, with a major in nuclear physics. He is currently funded (2024-2027) by the US Department of Energy (DoE) Low Dose Program and has received grants from the National Institutes of Health, DoE and NASA in the past. He was President of the Radiation Research Society from 2013 to 2014, and a Council Member of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements and has published more than 400 peer-reviewed journal articles and numerous book chapters, with over 30,000 citations. He developed the radiation cancer risk models and space radiation quality factors that were approved for use at NASA in 2012, with updates in 2013–2023. Cucinotta currently serves on the editorial board for the Life Sciences in Space Research journal and has been a guest editor for the journals Radiation Research, Frontiers in Radiation Oncology, Radiation Protection Dosimetry, International Journal of Molecular Sciences, and Radiation and Environmental Biophysics.