Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness

Additional Information

Award winning thought leader on prison suicide. Triple Board-Certified medical doctor. (Psychiatry, Child/Adolescent Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry). Former Director of Psychiatric Services for the Missouri Department of Corrections. Directed, managed and supervised services provided by psychiatrists working in all prisons in Missouri. Was administratively responsible for all mental health services provided by the mental health staff. Considerable experience in providing direct psychiatric services to jail and prison inmates in various correctional institutions. Significant experience interacting with correctional staff that provides direct one-to-one services to inmates on suicide watch and attending to their needs. Authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed articles in correctional mental health and particularly on risk identification, prevention and risk management strategies relating to suicide in jails and prisons. One of the co-authors who updated the World Health Organization Resource Guide of Suicide in Jails and Prisons. Have conducted seminars and in-service training on suicide prevention and interventional strategies to mental health staff working in prisons and jails. Have trained medical, mental health and jail staff regarding risk factors, prevention strategies, applicable medical, mental health and correctional policies and implementation of such policies, officers’ responsibilities and duties and their pivotal frontline role in preventing suicide in jails and prisons. Have studied, analyzed and published risk factors and profiles on dozens of inmates who committed suicide. As a medical director and administrator, have participated in numerous mortality and morbidity reviews as well as debriefing conferences where medical, mental health and jail and prison staff participated. Formerly, Associate Editor of the Journal of American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.