Proposed Model Jury Instruction on Implicit Bias

Co-researched and authored with BC Psychology Professor Liane Young, our students, and other members of a Supreme Judicial Court Standing Committee, a proposed model jury instruction aimed at reducing implicit bias. The proposed instruction was adopted by the SJC and is now required in all civil and criminal jury trials in Massachusetts

Amicus Letter: Graham, et.al. v. District Attorney of Hampden County

Co-authored amicus letter urging SJC to grant or review emergency petition for relief from practices of the Hampden County District Attorney and the Springfield Police Department that cause wrongful convictions. Case is pending

Amicus Brief: Comonwealth v. Victor Rosario No. 12115, Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

Co-authored amicus brief successfully urging SJC to apply confluence of factors/totality of circumstances analysis and affirm order vacating arson/murder convictions

Amicus Brief: Commonwealth v. Alfred Jenks No. 1306, Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

Co-authored amicus brief successfully urging Supreme Judicial Court to interpret the Massachusetts Post-Conviction Forensic Testing Statute, MGL ch. 278A, broadly to achieve the goal of granting scientific or forensic testimony where material to a claim of factual innocence

Testing the Prognostic Accuracy of the Updated Pediatric Sepsis Biomarker Risk Model

Background We previously derived and validated a risk model to estimate mortality probability in children with septic shock (PERSEVERE; PEdiatRic SEpsis biomarkEr Risk modEl). PERSEVERE uses five biomarkers and age to estimate mortality probability. After the initial derivation and validation of PERSEVERE, we combined the derivation and validation cohorts (n = 355) and updated PERSEVERE. An important step in the development of updated risk models is to test their accuracy using an independent test cohort. Objective To test the prognostic accuracy of the updated version PERSEVERE in an independent test cohort. Methods Study subjects were recruited from multiple pediatric intensive care units in the United States. Biomarkers were measured in 182 pediatric subjects with septic shock using serum samples obtained during the first 24 hours of presentation. The accuracy of PERSEVERE 28-day mortality risk estimate was tested using diagnostic test statistics, and the net reclassification improvement (NRI) was used to test whether PERSEVERE adds information to a physiology-based scoring system. Results Mortality in the test cohort was 13.2%. Using a risk cut-off of 2.5%, the sensitivity of PERSEVERE for mortality was 83% (95% CI 62–95), specificity was 75% (68–82), positive predictive value was 34% (22–47), and negative predictive value was 97% (91–99). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.81 (0.70–0.92). The false positive subjects had a greater degree of organ failure burden and longer intensive care unit length of stay, compared to the true negative subjects. When adding PERSEVERE to a physiology-based scoring system, the net reclassification improvement was 0.91 (0.47–1.35; p<0.001). Conclusions The updated version of PERSEVERE estimates mortality probability reliably in a heterogeneous test cohort of children with septic shock and provides information over and above a physiology-based scoring system

ACC/AHA 2007 Guidelines on Perioperative Cardiovascular Evaluation and Care for Noncardiac Surgery: Executive Summary: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines (Writing Committee to Revise the 2002 Guidelines on Perioperative Cardiovascular Evaluation for Noncardiac Surgery)

These guidelines represent an update to those published in 2002 and are intended for physicians and nonphysician caregivers who are involved in the preoperative, operative, and postoperative care of patients undergoing noncardiac surgery. They provide a framework for considering cardiac risk of noncardiac surgery in a variety of patient and surgical situations. The writing committee that prepared these guidelines strove to incorporate what is currently known about perioperative risk and how this knowledge can be used in the individual patient