Dr. Melanie Harrington

Areas of Activity | Education | Professional Experience | Teaching | Academic Committees

| Publications | Convention Presentations | Other Publications |

Melanie E. Harrington, Ph.D., is a litigation analyst. As an independent contractor, Dr. Harrington works with the Law Offices of Michael D. Thamer where she conducts litigation analyses for plaintiffs in elder abuse civil actions. Dr. Harrington has a doctorate degree in experimental psychology. In addition, Dr Harrington serves as a jury consultant to attorneys in a range of legal fields.

Prior to entering the legal arena, Dr Harrington served on the faculty of the University of Nevada School of Medicine.

Education

Ph.D., Experimental Psychology, 1995

University of Nevada, Reno
Dissertation: "A Situated Action Approach to Emotion"

M.A., Clinical Psychology, 1991

University of Nevada, Reno
Thesis: "Empathy and Aggression: A Study of Criminal Psychopaths"

B.A., Psychology, 1987

University of Nevada, Reno

Honors:

1994

1990-1993

1988-1989

1986

American Psychological Association Dissertation Research Award

Wilson Psychology Fellowship

UNR Regents Award; UNR Clinical Psychology Research Scholarship

Kenneth W. Yeats Psychology Scholarship; Arts and Science Scholarship

Professional Experience

February 1998 - Present: Litigation Analyst

Serve as a Litigation Analyst and Consultant to trial attorneys in case preparation and presentation. Areas of expertise include jury psychology, analysis of case fact patterns, including medical issues, and preparation of document summaries. Primary contractor: Law Offices of Michael D. Thamer, Yreka, CA

Selected litigation consulting experiences:

Served as plaintiff’s litigation analyst and jury consultant on nursing home abuse case. Following a five-week trial, defendants were found liable for fraud, elder abuse and negligence. The jury awarded punitive damages in the amount of $94.7 million. Gregory v. Beverly Enterprises, Inc., et al.
Provided litigation analysis for plaintiffs’ attorneys in elder-abuse cases in California and numerous other states. Consulting areas include: litigation-focused summaries and analyses of case facts and documents, including medical records and regulatory histories of defendant nursing homes; case investigation including witness interviews and research into defendants’ corporate and financial backgrounds. Cases include wrongful death, fraud, elder abuse, and negligence actions.
Served as defendant’s jury selection expert and trial consultant for criminal case involving charges of gang activity and multiple homicides.
Served as defense consultant in investigation and trial preparation phases of a death-penalty case, including: developed a jury pool profile with attention to case evidence issues; assisted with crime scene profile analyses; and, assisted investigators with analysis of witness statements.
Consulted to plaintiff’s attorney on jury selection issues for civil case involving racial discrimination and civil rights violations.
Analyzed neuropsychological test results and evidence in a neuro-toxic exposure injury case.
Served as litigation analyst in an adoption jurisdiction case concerning the interests of minor children suffering from attachment disorder.
Provided expert consultation on psychological issues (appropriateness of psychometric assessments, emotional attachment of mother-infant) regarding parent’s right to retain child custody.
Conducted “mock jury” studies for civil litigation, including collection of data from group deliberations.

1994-1998	Assistant Professor, Nutrition Education Research Program,
	University of Nevada School of Medicine

Duties: Oversaw biostatistical tasks including experimental design and statistical analyses of research results; prepare publications, presentations for professional meetings, grant proposals; supervised database maintenance for numerous studies, including a large-scale longitudinal study of cardiovascular disease risk; supervised research training for graduate and undergraduate students.

1989-1993	Research Assitant, Social Psychophysiology Lab,
	University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Psychology

Duties: Conducted research examining social psychophysiological components of emotions and criminality; supervised psychophysiological laboratory; conducted seminars for graduate and undergraduate students.

1987-1990	Clinical Psychologist Trainee, Psychological Services Center
	University of Nevada, Reno

Duties: Conducted psychological assessments, intake interviews and psychotherapy with diverse clientele in university clinic, Nevada Mental Health Institute, forensic facility, and children’s behavioral services clinic.

1986-1988	Research Assistant, Department of Psychology
	University of Nevada, Reno

Duties: Assisted with research on neurological and behavioral correlates of antisocial behavior and schizophrenia; conducted statistical analyses of data from longitudinal risk-for-schizophrenia project.

Teaching

Southern Oregon University, Ashland, Oregon: Department of Psychology

Instructor

The Criminal Mind

Summer 2000, Summer 2001

University of Nevada, Reno: Department of Psychology

Instructor	Research Methods	Summer 1992, Summer 1993
Instructor	Introductory Psychology	Spring 1988, Summer 1988 and 1991
Teaching Assistant	Abnormal Psychology	Fall 1987
Teaching Assistant	Personality Theories & Assessment	Fall 1987

Academic Committees

University of Nevada

Social/Behavioral Institutional Review Board, Committee Member, 1987-1993
IRB was responsible for ensuring Informed Consent rights of research subjects

Publications

Thamer, M.D., and Harrington, M.E. (1999). Informal Discovery Tactics: The Truth is Out There. Proceedings of the Consumer Attorneys of California annual meeting, San Francisco, CA.

Harrington, M.E. (Section Editor). (1997). Section IV: Physical Activity and Its Measurement. In S. St. Jeor (Ed.), Obesity Assessment. New York: Chapman and Hall.

Harrington, M.E. (1997). Ch. 14: Activity Records. In S. St. Jeor (Ed.), Obesity Assessment. New York: Chapman and Hall.

Harrington, M.E. (1997). Ch. 15: Activity Monitors. In S. St. Jeor (Ed.), Obesity Assessment. New York: Chapman and Hall.

Harrington, M.E., & Cutter, G.R. (1997). Chapter 42: The Assessment of Alcohol and Tobacco in Health-Related Research. In S. St. Jeor (Ed.), Obesity Assessment. New York: Chapman and Hall.

Miller, G., & Harrington, M.E. (1997). Chapter 38: Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES-D) Scale. In S. St. Jeor (Ed.), Obesity Assessment. New York: Chapman and Hall.

Miller, G., & Harrington, M.E. (1997). Chapter 39: General Well Being Schedule. In S. St. Jeor (Ed.), Obesity Assessment. New York: Chapman and Hall.

St. Jeor, S.T., Brunner, R.L., Harrington, M.E., Scott, B.J., Daugherty, S.A., Cutter, G.R., Brownell, K.D., Dyer, A.R., and Foreyt, J.P. (1997). A Classification System to Evaluate Weight Maintainers, Gainers and Losers. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 97, 481-488.

Ginsburg, G.P., and Harrington, M.E. (1996). The nature of emotions: Bodily states and context in situated lines of action. In R. Harre & W.G. Parrott (Eds.), The Emotions: Social, Cultural and Biological Dimensions. London: Sage.

St. Jeor, S., Brunner, R.M., Harrington, M.E., Scott, B.A., Cutter, G., Brownell, K., Dyer, A., and Foreyt, A. (1995). Who are the weight maintainers? Obesity Research, 3(2), 249S-259S.

Chatham, P.M., Tibbals, C., and Harrington, M.E. (1993). The MMPI and MCMI in the evaluation of narcissism in a clinical sample. Journal of Personality Assessment, 60(2), 239-251. Note: MMPI stands for Minesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory; MCMI stands for Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory.

Silverton, L., Mednick, S.A., Schulsinger, F., Parnas, J., and Harrington, M.E. (1988). Genetic risk for schizophrenia, birth weight, and cerebral ventricular enlargement. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97(4), 496 499.

Silverton, L., Mednick, S.A., and Harrington, M.E. (1988). Birth weight, schizophrenia and ventricular enlargement in a high risk sample. Psychiatry, 51, 272 280.

Silverton, L., Harrington, M.E., and Mednick, S.A. (1988). Motor impairment and antisocial behavior in adolescent males at high risk for schizophrenia. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, Vol. 16(2), 177 186.

Convention Presentations

Harrington, M.E. Invited speaker at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) attorney training seminars. Topics include investigation and trial issues; jury psychology; analysis and presentation of medical records and regulatory violation data. Multiple seminars from 1999 through the present.

Hayes, B.I., Harrington, M.E., and Ginsburg, G.P. (1998). Emotional Coherence. [Abstract]. Proceedings of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association.

Harrington, M.E., St. Jeor, S.T., and Silverstein, L.J. (1997). Predicting Resting Energy Expenditure from Body Mass Index: Practical Applications and Limitations. [Abstract] Obesity Research, 5(1):17s.

Devereax, P.G., Harrington, M.E., and Ginsburg, G.P. (1997). A Descriptive Analysis of the Properties of Laughter [Abstract]. Proceedings of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association.

Flower, K., Madden, K., Silverstein, L.J., Harrington, M.E., et al. (1997, October). Cancer and Nutrition Support Using the World Wide Web. Presented at the American Association of Cancer Educators, Atlanta.

Kline, K., Heffner, K., Hayes, B.I., Ginsburg, G.P., and Harrington, M.E. (1997). Situational Factors and Task Difficulty Influence ANS Reactions During Arithmetic Tasks [Abstract]. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Ishikawa, M., Flynn, M.C., Blackburn, G.L., Harrington, M., Heymsfield, S.B. et al. (1996). Is Serum Leptin Concentration a Biomarker of High risk Obesity? [Abstract] Obesity Research, 4:35s.

Harrington, M.E., and Ginsburg, G.P. (1995). Emotional Responses as Components of Situated Actions [Abstract]. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Harrington, M.E., Brunner, R.M., and St. Jeor, S. (1995). Measurement of Physical Activity: A Methodological Inquiry [Abstract]. Proceedings of the Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Scientific Sessions.

St. Jeor, S., Harrington, M.E., Brunner, R.L., Scott, B.J., Foreyt, J.P., and Dyer, A.R. (1995). How Eating Patterns May Relate to Obesity [Abstract]. International Journal of Obesity, 19S:020.

Harrington, M.E. and Ginsburg, G.P. (1994). Social Presence Effects on Emotional Displays: Augmented Smiles but Diminished Frowns [Abstract]. Proceedings of the Convention of the American Psychological Society.

Brunner, R., Harrington, M.E., St. Jeor, S., Carmody, T. and Brownell, K. (1994). Cardiovascular Reactivity in Yo-Yo Dieting Women [Abstract]. Proceedings of the Society of Behavioral Medicine Annual Scientific Sessions.

Harrington, M.E. and Ginsburg, G.P. (1994). Failure to Replicate Dimberg's "Facial Reactions to Facial Expressions" in Potentially Expressive Subjects [Abstract]. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Ginsburg, G.P. and Harrington, M.E. (1993, August). Conceptual Concerns About Basic Constructs: Context, Action, Affordance, Intention and Emotion. Seventh Annual Conference on Event Perception and Action, Vancouver.

Harrington, M.E., Ginsburg, G.P., and Bissett, R.T. (1993, April). Instructions to Subjects Influence Facial Displays of Emotion. Presented at the Western Psychological Association, Phoenix, AZ.

Harrington, M.E. and Ginsburg, G.P. (1993, April). Do Emotional Humans Really Act Like Animals? Presented at the Annual Convention of the Western Psychological Association, Phoenix, AZ.

Ginsburg, G.P., and Harrington, M.E. (1992, June). Emotions and Context. Presented at the Workshop on Emotions, Oxford University.

Harrington, M.E., Perumean, S., and Ginsburg, G.P. (1992, April). Sex Differences in Empathy and Antisocial Behavior. Presented to the Western Psychological Association, Portland, OR.

Ginsburg, G.P., and Harrington, M.E. (1991). Situational Capture of Cardiovascular Arousal [Abstract]. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Ginsburg, G.P., and Harrington, M.E. (1991). Self Rating of Arousal: A Methodological Risk [Abstract]. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Harrington, M.E. (1991, April). The Association of Empathy and Aggression in Criminal Psychopaths. Presented at the Annual Convention of the Western Psychological Association, San Francisco.

Domenici, D., Harrington, M.E., and Ginsburg, G.P. (1991, April). Socialization and Ratings of Emotional Expressions. Presented at the Western Psychological Association Annual Convention, San Francisco.

Harrington, M.E., Chatham, P.M., and Tibbals, C. (1990, April). Assessing Narcissism: Self Report Inventories and Diagnostic Categories. Presented at the Annual Convention of the Western Psychological Association, Los Angeles.

Harrington, M.E., Keating, M., McReynolds, P., and Moore, E. (1989, April). Self Perception of Major Personality Dimensions. Presented at the Joint Convention of the Western Psychological Association/Rocky Mountain Psychological Association, Reno, NV.

Harrington, M.E., Silverton, L., Mednick, S.A., and Schulsinger, F. (1987, August). Female criminality in a high risk for schizophrenia cohort. Presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, New York City.

Harrington, M.E., Silverton, L., Mednick, S.A., and Schulsinger, F. (1986, August). Dimensions of schizophrenia and ventricular enlargement. Presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Washington, D.C.

Other Publications

Harrington, M.E., Kline, K., and Afari, N. (1991). On the differentiation and treatment of an uncommon clinical syndrome: The normal personality disorder. Journal of Polymorphous Perversity, 1 4. (Reprinted in Ellenbogen, G.C., Editor, (1992), Freudulent Encounters.)

Dr. Harrington

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