Michael Welner

Michael Welner, M.D.
Born	(1964-09-24) September 24, 1964 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Education	M.D., University of Miami School of Medicine; B.S., University of Miami
Years active	1988 - present
Known for	The Depravity Scale
Relatives	Orli Hacker Welner (wife)
Medical career
Profession	Psychiatrist
Institutions	NYU School of Medicine; Duquesne University School of Law
Sub-specialties	Forensic psychiatry
Research	Criminal and deviant behavior
Awards	American Psychiatric Association Award of Excellence (1997)

Michael Mark Welner, M.D., (born September 24, 1964, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is one of America's most renowned forensic psychiatrists. He is Chairman of The Forensic Panel, has pioneered several advances in forensic science, and he has consulted as lead forensic psychiatry examiner on some of the most complex cases in America in recent years.

Personal background

Welner is the youngest of four children born to Nick and Barbara (Safier) Welner. His father was a civil engineer, educated in England. His mother, who left school as a wartime refugee, entered college in Britain unable to speak English and finished a valedictorian; she became a nurse specializing in gerontology. Both his parents were born in Poland, where their entire families perished in the Holocaust.

In recent years, Dr. Welner lost both of his sisters in accidental deaths. His older sister, Sandra Welner, M.D., was a Maryland-based gynecologist. After a neurologically disabling injury in 1987, she became internationally renowned for her medical research, inventions, and advocacy for the medical care of the disabled. She inspired a successful legal challenge to change United States currency to accommodate the visually impaired. Sandra Welner died on October 20, 2001, at the age of 42.

Dr. Michael Welner is married to Orli Hacker Welner, a corporate finance attorney.

Training

Welner graduated early from high school at age 15 . He then attended the University of Miami, where he earned a B.S. in Biology with a minor in Chemistry, before moving to the University of Miami School of Medicine for his medical degree. From 1988-1992, Dr. Welner undertook his residency in psychiatry at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan. In 1991, he was invited into the forensic psychiatry fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, mentored by Robert Sadoff, M.D. Welner became the first resident to complete a forensic psychiatry fellowship simultaneously with a psychiatry residency training at the Beth Israel program .

Professional career

Upon completion of his residency in 1992, Dr. Welner assumed a substantial patient load in an existing private practice of psychopharmacology, specializing in violence and patients who did not respond to other treatment . At the same time, he also served as an attending physician on the corrections psychiatry unit at Bellevue Hospital in New York City . Welner has maintained a clinical practice since 1992, and he is Board Certified in Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, Psychopharmacology, and Disaster Medicine .

Dr. Welner's casework has spanned the range of criminal, civil, employment, and securities law, often focusing on cutting-edge issues or highly complex litigation (including class-action litigation). He also has been consulted by attorneys and judges on a number of high-profile cases. His 1996 evaluation of William Tager was the first to confirm, through evidence, that Tager was responsible for attacking newsman Dan Rather in a confrontation immortalized by the R.E.M. song "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?". Subsequent to his work on Tager, Welner became known within legal circles for his influential role in a number of high-profile cases. These included: billionairess Doris Duke, murder victim Matthew Shepard, the Church of Scientology, post-9/11 civil litigation, the retardation controversy of Johnny Paul Penry, dermatologist Richard Sharpe, NBA basketball player Jayson Williams, Andrea Yates, wrestler Chris Benoit, the kidnapper of Elizabeth Smart, Omar Khadr, and the contested will of Nina Wang in Hong Kong.

Welner has consulted courts on a number of mass shooting cases and has interviewed Byran Uyesugi, Ronald Taylor, Richard Baumhammers, and Ronald Crumpley, all of whom survived their rampages. Welner was one of only four psychiatrists in America invited to a 2006 FBI working group updating current understandings of serial killers. His casework has also involved a number of well-known medication and drug-induced crimes, including those of Errol Beumel (Indiana) and Bryan Johnston (Massachusetts).

A chief mental health consultant to both defense and prosecution in a number of death penalty cases around the United States, Dr. Welner was the principal prosecution mental health witness in all three of the only successful federal death penalty verdicts in the Northeast United States in decades: Gary Sampson (Massachusetts), Donald Fell (Vermont), and Ronell Wilson (New York).

Dr. Welner has also conducted original research on false confessions, and he has testified in nationally referenced court decisions involving false confession questions. These cases have included Tyrell Edmonds (Mississippi), Patrick Free (New Jersey), Natavia Lowery(New York) and Romeo Phillion (before the Ontario Supreme Court in Canada).

In 2001, Welner published pioneering research on the typology of drug-facilitated rapists. The typology has since been cited and used by law enforcement and mental health professionals for distinguishing different perpetrators, their personalities, and their psychological makeup.

Dr. Welner was invited to present testimony before the Pennsylvania and Texas State Senate Judiciary Committees on mental retardation and the death penalty. His testimony proved decisive, as hotly contested legislation ultimately gained strong bipartisan support for Dr. Welner's position. He is also a strong critic of video game violence, having testified for the New York State Assembly in support of related legislation.

Dr. Welner is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, PA. In 1997, he was honored by the American Psychiatric Association with its award for excellence in medical student education. Welner has lectured on numerous forensic and clinical issues as an invited speaker of, among others, the American Bar Association, American College of Legal Medicine, American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology, International Bar Association, and various medical center Grand Rounds at venues around the world. His lecture topics also have included disaster medicine, domestic violence, competency to invest and testamentary capacity, fitness for employment, and the psychology of terrorism.

The Forensic Echo

In 1996, Dr. Welner unveiled The Forensic Echo, the first practitioner-driven magazine devoted to the frontier interface of psychiatry, law, and public policy. Among other original features, The Forensic Echo introduced case digest coverage, a practice that was soon followed by other academic journals in forensic psychiatry. The Forensic Echo continued publication for five years before retiring to its current online archive form, where it continues as a resource on unique complexities of psychiatry, forensic science, and law.

The Forensic Panel

In 1998, Dr. Welner developed the first system for peer-review of forensic consultation in the United States. The Forensic Panel, which he chairs, now features approximately 30 members in psychiatry, psychology, neuroradiology, emergency and critical care medicine, nursing, toxicology, and pathology. The peer-review system optimized by The Forensic Panel aims at maximizing evidence-driven diligence, safeguards objectivity, and promotes adherence to updated standards within forensic sciences. The Forensic Panel's peer-review has since established a reputation for enhancing the settlement of cases without testimony needed, and it is recognized by virtue of its case list and roster of specialists as one of the most respected forensic practices in the world.

The Depravity Scale

Dr. Welner has pioneered a multilayered effort to achieve scientific-legal standardization of evil crimes and everyday evil acts. The Depravity Scale research, as it is known, is the first such research to incorporate forensic science, law, and public input; it constitutes the first criminal sentencing research to incorporate public opinion. Through the Depravity Scale research, Dr. Welner has used public web-based surveys to weave public consensus into an evidence-driven Depravity Standard for distinguishing heinous crimes that warrant more severe punishment from those that do not.

Dr. Welner has also devised the WIEEO (Welner Inventory of the Everyday Extreme and Outrageous), a standard for application in clinical psychotherapy to distinguish everyday evil and intent that warrant clinical attention.

Media appearances and lectures

For a number of years, Dr. Welner has been consulted for network news coverage of forensic issues, and he has been known for his out-of-the-box, no-nonsense, but compassionate commentary. He was the first forensic scientist to openly doubt the veracity of John Mark Karr's 2006 confession to killing JonBenét Ramsey and to accurately account for why Karr confessed. Within days of 9/11, he was the first mental health professional to write of al-Qaeda as a movement reflecting the methodology of traditional destructive cults, rather than an outgrowth of poverty or the disaffected.

In the aftermath of the Ft. Hood tragedy, Dr. Welner was the first to denote the shooting as ideological in origin, based upon the shooter’s high functioning background. In a nationally televised appearance on CBS Morning News, Dr. Welner explained why a trauma care worker would not be expected to be homicidal to patients – unless his ideology trumped his Hippocratic oath. His published work on the psychology of terrorism has been referenced and reprinted. Dr. Welner’s expertise in disaster medicine and other cross cultural issues has supplemented his forensic focus.

Dr. Welner joined ABC News as a Special Consultant in 2007, becoming the first forensic scientist to join a major network news division for both creative and advisory work. Welner drew considerable notoriety in April 2007 when his widely quoted remarks on Good Morning America, following the Virginia Tech rampage, sparked a backlash that prompted networks to remove the killer's video confession and digital photographs from their news pages.

For his 2008 television program highlighting the Depravity Scale research, "Inside the Criminal Mind", Welner interviewed serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin. In this interview, Franklin admitted to shootings for which he had not acknowledged responsibility in over 28 years of custody.

In 1992 and 1993, he was one of the Perot movement’s most visible national spokespeople as a particularly vocal advocate of government (lobbying) reform, a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and as a withering critic of the NAFTA. During the 1992 election campaign, Dr. Welner debated candidates’ representatives such as Alphonse D’Amato and Charles Schumer on behalf of Ross Perot’s presidential effort. Dr. Welner has not been politically affiliated for many years since, though he has written on a range of public policy issues and continues to be heavily influenced by living through the collapse of Pittsburgh in the deindustrialization of the 1970s.

Selected presentations

• Current & Unresolved Ethical Challenges Confronting Forensic Psychiatry, International Academy of Forensic Sciences, Annual Meeting, July 2008.
• Lessons in Psychiatric Resilience from Foreign Disasters, Preserving Evidence, Saving Lines, Pittsburgh, PA, March 2007.
• Antidepressant (SSRI) Defenses: Guidelines for Assessment, American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Annual Meeting, San Antonio, TX, February 2007.
• Forensic Psychiatric Peer-Review in Action: Capital Mitigation, And Justice for All, Pittsburgh, PA, April 2006.
• Interdisciplinary Forensic Peer-Review in Action: Death Investigation, American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA, February 2006.
• Forensic Interviewing and Police Interrogation: Learning from the Other, Duquesne University School of Law, Pittsburgh, PA, March 2005.
• Psychopathy, Media, and the Psychology at the Root of Terror, Grand Rounds, Cooper Hospital, Camden, NJ, November 2004.
• The Insanity Defendant: Answers in the Unexplained, Duquesne University School of Law, Pittsburgh, PA, October 2004.
• Death Investigation and Medical Malpractice, Distinguished Lecturer in Legal Medicine, American College of Legal Medicine, Las Vegas, NV, March 2004.
• False Confessions & DNA Exonerations: Research, and Realities, Nebraska Institute of Forensic Sciences, Lincoln, Nebraska, June 2003.
• Evil Beyond Crime: Civil Assessment and the Clinical Reckoning of Evil, American Psychiatric Association, Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, May 2003.
• Sorting Out the Female Defendant: Clinical & Forensic Considerations, Kirby Forensic Psychiatric Center, Grand Rounds, New York, NY, March 2003.
• Americans with Disabilities Act and September 11, Association of the Bar of the City of New York, New York, NY, January 2002.
• The Depravity Scale: Development and Potential, American Psychiatric Association, Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, May 2001.
• Ethnic Rage: Guidelines for Forensic Assessment, American Psychiatric Association, Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, May 2001.

Selected bibliography

• Forensic Psychiatry. Welner, M. In: Wecht C., (ed) Forensic Sciences. Matthew Bender. New York. (in print)
• Classifying Crimes by Severity: From Aggravators to Depravity, Welner M. In: Douglass J, Ressler R, Burgess A, FBI Crime Classification Manual. Jossey-Bass 2007 pp 55–72.
• Psychopathy, Media, and the Psychology at the Root of Terrorism Welner, M. In: Biological and Chemical Warfare Lawyers and Judges Publishing Tucson Az. 2004 pp 385–421.
• Motives in Crime. Welner, M. In: Dominick J et al. Crime Scene Investigation Elwin Street London. 2004 pp 126–135.
• Psychotropic Medications and Crime. Welner, M. In: Mozayani A, Raymon L (ed) Handbook of Drug Interactions: A Clinical and Forensic Guide. Haworth Press. London. 2003. pp 631–645.
• Antipsychotics Drugs and Interactions: Implications for Criminal and Civil Forensics. Welner, M. In: Mozayani A, Raymon L (ed) Handbook of Drug Interactions: A Clinical and Forensic Guide. Haworth Press. London. 2003. pp 187– 215.
• The Perpetrators and Their Modus Operandi. Welner, M. In: LeBeau M, Mozayani A (ed) Drug Facilitated Sexual Assault. Academic Press. London. 2001 pp 39–74.
• The Cult of Al-Qaeda. (brainwashing and Islamic fundamentalism) Welner, M. The Forensic Panel Letter. The Forensic Echo. October 16, 2001.
• Risk and the Power of Manson (power, charisma, and dangerousness) Welner, M. 4(2) The Forensic Panel Letter. www.forensicpanel.com, January 2000.
• Calming the Enemy of the State (law enforcement psychiatry collaboration) Welner, M. 3(1) The Forensic Echo. 1 December 1998.
• Neonaticide: Immaculate Misconception? Welner, M., Delfs, L.; 1(12) The Forensic Echo. 4-10 November 1997.
• Vincent Gigante's Next Move (competency assessment) Welner, M., Delfs, L.; 1(10) The Forensic Echo. 4-14 September 1997.

External links

• Mitchell attorneys want fewer witnesses
• Inside Mind of Health Club Shooter Top Forensic Psychiatrist Delves into Blog Entries and YouTube Videos Gunman Left Behind
• Expert: What Makes a Mass Killer?
• Beneath the Surface of the Tara Grant Case
• Expert Looks Behind Mohammed's Confession, ABC News.com, March 15, 2007
• Paranoid, with Delusions of Discrimination, Reason Magazine, July 24, 1999
• Defining Evil Acts, Washington Square News, February 22, 2005
• Interview of Noted Forensic Psychiatrist, Dr. Michael Welner
• Cho Likely Schizophrenic, Evidence Suggests
• Expert: Pay Attention to Paranoia, ABC News.com, April 20, 2007
• Giving Evil the Eye, The Washington Post, July 23, 2007
• Adding Method to Judging Mayhem, The New York Times, April 2, 2007
• Crime Library Profile of Dr. Michael Welner
• Justice For All Faculty, Michael Welner
• An Interview with Michael Welner, M.D.
• The Forensic Panel, About Us
• The Forensic Panel, Michael Welner, M.D.