Professor David P. Phillips

Marital Status: Married (two children)

Office Address

	Department of Sociology 0533
	University of California at San Diego
	La Jolla, CA 92093-0533
	Phone: 858-534-0482

Education

Harvard University, B.A., 1964

Magna Cum Laude
National Merit Scholarship

Princeton, Ph. D., 1970

Woodrow Wilson Fellowship
Princeton National Fellowship
Hazel Hopkins Ford Summer Fellowship
Bobbs-Merrill Award
Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowship

Grants and Awards

Russell Sage Foundation, 1969-1970.
University of California, 1974-75, 1975-76, 1978-79, 1981-82, 1986-87. To study the impact of mass media violence on suicide, automobile accidents, and homicide.
Excellence in Teaching Award, 1981 (University of California, at San Diego, Revelle College).
Shneidman Award for Excellence in Research, 1983. (Awarded by the American Association of Suicidology for outstanding research by an investigator under age 40.)
AAAS Socio-Psychological Prize, 1983. (Awarded by the American Association for the Advancement of Science for paper no. 23, on homicide)
Who's Who in America.
Marian E. Smith Foundation, 1990-present. Funds to support unrestricted research.

Positions

	Assistant Professor, Johns Hopkins University, 1967-70.
	Assistant Professor, S.U.N.Y., Stony Brook, 1970-74.
	Acting Associate Professor, University of California at San Diego, 1974-75.
	Associate Professor, University of California at San Diego, 1975-1983.
	Professor, University of California at San Diego, 1983 to date.

Professional Publications

64) "A Spike in Fatal Medication Errors at the Beginning of Each Month" (with J. Jarvinen, R. Phillips; DPP as main author. This was the lead article.); in Pharmacotherapy, January, 2005, 25(1):1-9.
63) "Cardiac Mortality is Higher Around Christmas and New Year's Than at Any Other Time: The Holidays as a Risk Factor for Death" (with J. Jarvinen, I. Abramson, R. Phillips; DPP as main author. This was the editor's pick and the subject of an editorial in the same journal issue.); in Circulation, December, 2004, 110:3781-3788.
62) "Morbidity and Mortality from Medical Errors: An Increasingly Serious Public Health Problem" (with Charlene Bredder; DPP as main author); in Annual Review of Public Health, 2002, Volume 23, pp. 135-150. This paper will be reprinted in part in Safe and Effective, edited by Dr Neil MacKinnon, published by the Canadian Pharmacists' Association, 2006.
61) "The Hound of the Baskervilles effect: Influence of psychological stress on the timing of death" (with G. Liu, J. Jarvinen, K. Kwok, W. Zhang, I. Abramson; DPP as main author); in British Medical Journal, December, 2001, 323(7327):1443-6.
60) "Field Studies" (with L. Glynn; DPP as main author); in the Encyclopedia of Psychology, Oxford University Press. Alan E. Kazdin, editor in chief. Washington, D.C. : American Psychological Association ; Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2000.
59) "An abrupt shift in U.S. suicide levels around the month boundary" (with N. Ryan; DPP as main author), to appear in Review of Suicidology, 2000 (J. McIntosh, ed.).
58) "Exposure to New York City as a risk factor for heart attack mortality" (with N. Christenfeld; L.M. Glynn; I. Shrira; DPP as secondary author). Psychosomatic Medicine, 1999 Nov-Dec, 61(6):740-3.
57) "What's in a name: mortality and the power of symbols" (with N. Christenfeld; LM Glynn; DPP as secondary author) Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 1999 Sep, 47(3):241-54.
56) "An increase in the number of deaths in the United States in the first week of the month An association with substance abuse and other causes of death" (with N. Christenfeld and N. Ryan; DPP as main author). New England Journal of Medicine, July, 1999, Vol. 341, pp. 93-98. (This paper was reprinted, in part, in the 2000 Yearbook of Emergency Medicine (W. Burdick et al., eds.).
55) "The influence of medical and legal authorities on deaths facilitated by physicians" (with N. Christenfeld, L. Glynn; A. Steinberg; DPP as main author), Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior. 1999 Spring, 29(1):48-57.
54) "Increase in U.S. medication-error deaths between 1983 and 1993" (with N. Christenfeld and L. Glynn; DPP as main author), The Lancet, Feb 28, 1998, Vol. 351, pp. 643-644. (This paper was reprinted, in part, in the 1999 Yearbook of Surgery (E. Copeland, ed.), and in Health News, April, 1998.)
53) "Elevated suicide levels associated with legalized gambling" (with W. Welty and M. Smith; DPP as main author); in Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, Dec., 1997, Vol. 27,#4,pp.373-378.
52) "A new method for tracking the integration of women into academic medicine" (with D. Smith, K. Buerkle; DPP as main author); Academic Medicine, 71:794-795, 1996.
51) "Suicide and the Media: Research and Policy Implications" (with K. Lesyna; DPP as main author); in R. Diekstra et al., (Eds.), Preventive Strategies on Suicide (Leiden, World Health Organization, 19 95).
50) "The epidemiology of found experiments," (with S. Halebsky; DPP as main author); Journal of the American Medical Association 273:(No. 15)1221, 1995. [Invited Editorial]
49) "Psychology and survival," (with T. Ruth, L. Wagner; DPP as main author); The Lancet 342:(Nov. 6 issue)1142-1145, 1993. This article is also the subject of a commentary in the same issue.
48) "Adequacy of official suicide statistics for scientific research and public policy," (with T. Ruth; DPP as main author); Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior,23(4):307-319,1993.
47) "There are more things in heaven and earth: Missing features in Durkheim's theory of suicide," (with T. Ruth, S. Macnamara; DPP as main author); pp. 90-100 in D. Lester (Ed.), Centennial of Durkheim's Le Suicide (Philadelphia: Charles Press, 1993).
46) "The Birthday: Lifeline or Deadline?" [lead article] (with C. Van Voorhees, MD, T. Ruth; DPP as main author); Psychosomatic Medicine 54:532-542, 1992. This article is also the subject of an editorial in the same issue, and will be reprinted, in part, in Psychiatry Digest.
45) "Importance of the Lay Press in the Transmission of Medical Knowledge to the Scientific Community," (with E. Kanter, B. Bednarczyk, P. Tastad; DPP as main author); New England Journal of Medicine 325:1180-83, October 17, 1991. This article was reprinted, somewhat shortened, in ScienceWriters 39(3):9-10.
44) "Suicide and the Media," (with K. Lesyna and D. Paight; DPP as main author); in R.W. Maris, A.L. Berman, J.T. Maltsberger, and R.I. Yufit (eds.), Assessment and Prediction of Suicide (New York: Guilford Publications, 1992).
43) "Postponement of death until symbolically meaningful occasions," Journal of the American Medical Association 263:1947-1951, April 11, 1990 (with D. Smith; DPP as main author). This paper was also selected as the lead article for the French edition of JAMA ("La mort peut-etre differee jusqu'a un evenement symbolique") Vol. 15, #205, May, 1990, pp.729-736. This article was also selected for the Indian edition of JAMA, Vol. 7, #4, July, 1990, pp. 339-344, and for the Pakistani edition, Vol 2, #11, January 1991, pp. 626-630.
42) "Suicide at Symbolic Ages: Death on Stocktaking Occasions," in A. Leenaars (Ed.), Life-Span Perspectives of Suicide (New York: Plenum Press, 1991 (with D. Smith; DPP as main author).
41) "Suicide and the Media: Research and Policy Implications," in R. Diekstra (Ed.), Preventive Strategies on Suicide: A World Health Organization State of the Art Publication. (In press; forthcoming, 1992) (with K. Lesyna; DPP as equal co-author)
40) "Death takes a holiday: Mortality from natural causes surrounding major social occasions", The Lancet, Issue No. 8613: 728-732,1988. (with E. King; DPP as main author).
39) "A comparison of injury date and death date in 42,698 suicides," in American Journal of Public Health, 78:541-543,1988. (with A. Sanzone; DPP as main author).
38) "Recent advances in suicidology: The study of imitative suicide," in Rene Diekstra et al., eds., Suicide and its Prevention: The Role of Attitude and Imitation, (Published under the auspices of the World Health Organization, by E.J. Brill, Leiden, 1989.)
37) Letter to New England Journal of Medicine, 318:707,1988. (with D. Paight; DPP as main author).
36) "The effect of suicide stories on various demographic groups, 1965-1985," Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 18:100-114, 1988 (with L. Carstensen; DPP as main author). Reprinted in R. Surette, The Media and Criminal Justice Policy, (Chas. Thomas Pub., Springfield, MA., 1989).
35) "Effects of mass media stories on suicides, with new evidence on the role of story content," in Suicide Among Youth: Perspectives on Risk and Prevention (Cynthia Pfeffer, ed., Wash., D.C.: American Psychiatric Press, 1989). (with L. Carstensen and D. Paight; DPP as main author). Reprinted in Death/Dying, San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1990.
34) "The impact of televised movies about suicide: A replicative study," New England Journal of Medicine, 317:808-811, 1987 (with D. Paight; DPP as main author). A Chinese abstract of this paper appeared in Social Medicine Developements in Foreign Countries, 5(1):63, 1988.
33) "A drop in suicides around major public holidays," Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 17(1):1-12, 1987 [lead article] (with J. Wills; DPP as main author).
32) Letter to New England Journal of Medicine, 316:877-878, 1987 (with L. Carstensen; DPP as main author).
31) "The effect of mass media violence on suicide and homicide," American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Newsletter 11(2):29-31, 1986
30) "Clustering of teenage suicides after television news stories about suicide," in New England Journal of Medicine, 315:685-689, 1986 [lead Special Article] (with L. Carstensen; DPP as main author). This paper and a companion piece by M. Gould and D. Shaffer were the subject of an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine.
29) "Natural experiments on the effect of mass media violence on fatal aggression: Strengths and weaknesses of a new approach," pp. 207-250 in Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, Volume 19, 1986. Reprinted in part in R.L. Rosnow and R. Rosenthal, Beginning Behavioral Research: A Conceptual Primer (Macmillan, 1993) and in L. Berkowitz, Aggression: Its Causes, Consequences, and Control (McGraw-Hill, 1993).
28) "The found experiment: a new technique for assessing the impact of mass media violence on aggression," pp. 259-307 in Public Communication and Behavior, Volume 1, 1986.
27) "The impact of mass media violence on suicide and homicide," in Media Information Australia, No. 39 (1986).
26) "The Werther effect," The Sciences pp. 32-39 (July/August, 1985) [lead article]. Reprinted in Social Issues Resource Series.
25) "Same time last year: Selective data dredging for negative findings," American Sociological Review, 50: 364-371 (1985) (with K. Bollen; DPP as main author).
24) "Mass media stories about violence: Their impact depends on whether the violence is rewarded, punished, or treated neutrally," Journal of Communication, pp. 101-116, Fall, 1984 (with J. Hensley; DPP as main author). Reprinted in Mass Communication Yearbook, Volume 5 (Eds: Michael Gurevitch and Mark R. Levy), (Beverly Hills, CA, Sage, 1985). Reprinted in part in Steven Penrod, Social Psychology, 2nd Ed., (Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall, 1986).
23) "The impact of mass media violence on homicides," American Sociological Review 48:560-568 (1983). This paper won the 1983 Socio-Psychological Prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Reprinted in: Murder: A Multidisciplinary Anthology, (forthcoming, ed. Joe Weiss; Harcourt Brace Custom Publishing; Readings About the Social Animal 5th Edition (Ed: Elliot Aronson, New York: W.H. Freeman, 1987 [6th Edition, 1991]; and in B. Wheaton, The Quality of Social Life, Littleton, MA: Copley Publishing Group, 1987. Reprinted in part in J.W. Corder and J.J. Ruszkiewicz (Eds.), Handbook of Current English, (Glenview, Ill., Scott, Foresman, 19 84). Also in Terence Sincinch, Statistics by Example, (Dellen: San Francisco, 1986). Also in Alex Thio, Sociology An Introduction (Harper and Row: N.Y., 1986; 2nd Ed., 1989). Also in T.L. Baker, Doing Social Research, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1987 [and 1994], and in B.D. McPherson, J. Curtis, J. Loy, The Social Significance of Sport, (Human Kinetics Pub., 1989). Also in J.M. Burger, Personality, (2nd ed.), (Wadsworth Pub. Co., 1989), and in L. Broome and C. Bonjean, Sociology: The Essentials, (Wadsworth Pub. Co., 1989).
22) "Teenage and adult temporal fluctuations in suicide and auto fatalities," in H. Sudak, A. Ford, and N. Rushforth (eds.) Suicide in Children and Adolescents PSG Publishing Co.: Littleton, MA (1983).
21) "Imitative suicides: A national study of the effects of television news stories" American Sociological Review 47:802-809 (1982) (with K. Bollen; DPP as equal co-author).
20) "Deterrence and the death penalty: Reply to Zeisel" American Journal of Sociology 88:170-172 (1982).
19) "The fluctuation of homicides after publicized executions: Reply to Kobbervig et al." American Journal of Sociology 88:165-167 (1982).
18) "The behavioral impact of violence in the mass media: A review of the evidence from laboratory and nonlaboratory investigations," Sociology and Social Research 66: 387-398 (1982) [lead article].
17) "The impact of fictional television stories on U.S. adult fatalities: New evidence on the effects of violence in the mass media," American Journal of Sociology 87: 1340-59 (1982).
16) "The complementary virtues of qualitative and quantitative research: Reply to Altheide," Social Forces 60: 597-99 (1981).
15) "Strong and weak research techniques for analysing the impact of capital punishment on homicide," Rutgers Law Review Symposium Issue on Punishment 33: 790-98 (1981).
14) "Suicidal motor vehicle fatalities in Detroit: A replication," American Journal of Sociology 87: 404-12 (1981) (with K. Bollen; DPP as equal co-author).
13) "The deterrent effect of capital punishment: New evidence on an old controversy," American Journal of Sociology 86: 139-48 (1980).
12) "Airplane accidents, murder, and the mass media: Towards a theory of imitation and suggestion," Social Forces 58: 1001-24 (1980) [lead article]. Reprinted in D. Whitney and E. Wartella, Sage Mass Communication Review Yearbook Vol. 3. Sage (1982). Also reprinted in part in Robert Cialdini, Influence (Scott, Foresman: Glenview, IL, 1985); in A. Mawson, Transient Criminality: A Model of Stress-Induced Crime Praeger (1987); in R. Cialdini, Influence: Science and Practice (Harper Collins, 1992); in M. Steir, Influence: Science and Practice Harper Collins (1992); and in E. Krupat, Psychology is Social (Harper Collins, 1993.
11) "The frequency of suicide around major public holidays: Some surprising findings," Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 10: 41-50 (1980) (with J. Liu, DPP as main author).
10) "Suicide, motor vehicle fatalities, and the mass media: evidence toward a theory of suggestion," American Journal of Sociology 84: 1150-74 (1979).
9) "Airplane accident fatalities increase just after newspaper stories about murder and suicide," Science 201 (19 78): 748-50. Reprinted in part in L. Wrightsman and K. Deaux, Social Psychology in the Eighties (3rd Ed.). Monterey: Brooks/Cole (1980); and in J. M. Chambers et al., Graphical Methods for Data Analysis. Boston: Duxbury Press and Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Inter-national (1984).
8) "Motor vehicle fatalities increase just after publicized suicide stories," Science 196 (19 77): 1464-65. Reprinted in part in J. Pick, Population Analysis. Boston: Addison-Wesley (1979); in D. Bakal, Psychology for the Health Sciences. Springer (1979); in R. Farrell and V. Swigert, The Substance of Social Deviance, New York: Alfred (1979); in E. B. Zechmeister and J.J. Shaughnessy, Research Methods in Psychology. New York: Knopf (1985; 1989).
7) "A simple, near-optimal method of classifying univariate interval-scale and ordinal-scale data," in D. Heise (ed.), Sociological Methodology 1975. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass (19 74) (with K. Bryson; KB as main author).
6) "The influence of suggestion on suicide: Substantive and theoretical implications of the Werther effect," American Sociological Review 39 (19 74): 340-54. This paper has been reprinted in S. Feldman (ed.), Deciphering Deviance, Boston: Little, Brown (1977); in R. Welz and H. Pohlmeier, Interdisziplinare Selbstmordforschung, Weinheim, W. Germany: Beltz (1980); and is reprinted in part in N. Demareth and G. Marwell, Sociology: Perspectives and Applications, New York: Harper and Row (1976); R. Farrell and V. Swigert, The Substance of Social Deviance, New York: Alfred (1979); R. Farrell and V. Swigert, Deviance and Social Control, New York: Scott, Foresman (1981); R. Cialdini, Influence, Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman (1985); D.G. Myers, Psychology, New York: Worth Publishers (1986; 1991); D. Schneider, Introduction to Social Psychology, San Diego, CA: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich (1988); D. Light and S. Keller, and C. Calhoun, Sociology (5th Ed.) New York: Knopf (1989); R. Cialdini, Influence: Science and Practice (Harper Collins, 1992); D.G. Myers, Exploring Psychology (Worth Publishers, 1993); E. Krupat, Psychology is Social (Harper Collins, 1993); M.J. Goldblatt & J.T. Maltsberger, Essential Papers in Suicide (NYU Press, 1995).
5) "A dip in deaths before ceremonial occasions: Some new relationships between social integration and mortality," American Sociological Review 38 (19 73): 678-96 (with K. Feldman; DPP as main author). This paper has been reprinted in part in D. Hultsch and F. Deutsch, Adult Development and Aging: A Life Span Perspective, New York: McGraw-Hill (1980); in B. Lahey, Psychology: An Introduction, Dubuque: William C. Brown (1983); in R.A. Anderson, Wellness Medicine, Edmonds, WA: American Health Press (1987).
4) "Measuring the structure and boundary properties of groups: Some uses of information theory," Sociometry 35 (19 72):235-54 (with R. Conviser; DPP as main author).
3) "Deathday and birthday: an unexpected connection," in J. Tanur et al. (eds.), Statistics: A guide to the Unknown. San Francisco: Holden-Day (19 72). This paper is also reprinted in K. Kammeyer (ed.) Population Studies: Selected Essays and Research. New York: Rand McNally (1975).
2) "A simple mathematical reformulation of Merton's typology of deviance," Journal of Mathematical Sociology 1 (19 72):201-11 (with R. Conviser; DPP as main author).
1) "On the robustness of the Von Neumann test," Technical Report No. 115, April, 1969, Statistics Department, Johns Hopkins University (with G. Chase; DPP as main author).

Lay Publications

1) Invited editorial in USA Today September 19, 1986.
2) Invited editorial in USA Today March 20, 1987.
3) "Research at the University of California suggests that some people can prolong life in order to reach their birthdays or other significant occasions." invited article on my research on psychosomatic medicine, in Repubblica, January, 1993. [This newspaper has the largest daily circulation in Italy.]

Papers Presented at Meetings

1) "Dying As a Form of Social Behavior." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, September, 1969.
2) "The Level of Mortality Before Two Important Social Events." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, April, 1970.
3) "An Analytic Technique For Grouping Multivariate Data." Presented at the Workshop on Clustering and Networks, Stony Brook, N.Y., April, 1971.
4) "Validity and Reliability." Invited Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, September, 1972 (with H. Selvin; HS As Main Author).
5) "Motor Vehicle Fatalities and the Mass Media." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Populationn Association of America, April, 1977.
6) "The Effect of the Mass Media on Various Forms of Suicide." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association For Public Opinion Research, May, 1977.
7) "Daily Mortality Statistics: Implications For Analysis and Prevention Programs." Presented at the National Center For Health Statistics, U.s. Department of Health and Welfare, Rockville, Md., March, 1978.
8) "Some New Methods For Detecting a Suicidal Component in Deaths That Are Not Classified As Suicides." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, September, 1978.
9) "Imitation and Suggestion in Relation To Guyana." Invited Paper In the Symposium on Jonestown at the Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association, September, 1979.
10) "Some Social Factors Affecting the Suicide Rate." Keynote Address at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Suicidology, April, 1981.
11) "The Effect of Mass Media Violence on Aggression Outside the Laboratory: New Evidence." Presented at the Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania, September, 1981.
12) "The Use of Daily Mortality Statistics in Epidemiological Research." Presented at the Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C., October, 1981.
13) "Imitation: A Neglected Variable?" Presented at the Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, N.C., October, 1981.
14) "The Impact of Mass Media Violence on Homicides: New
Evidence." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Society For the Study of Aggression, August, 1982.
15) "Demographic Evidence on the Effect of Mass Media Violence." Presented at the Center For Population Studies, University of Texas at Austin, April, 1983.
16) "Copy Cat Killings and Imitative Suicides: Some Similarities And Differences." Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Suicidology, April, 1983.
18) "Some New Approaches To Studying the Impact of Mass Media Violence." Presented at the Annenberg School of Communications, University of Southern California, September, 1983.
19) "New Evidence on the Impact of Mass Media Violence On
Aggression." Presented at University of California, Santa Barbara, Sociology Department, February, 1984.
20) "Mass Media Effects Outside the Social Psychology
Laboratory." Presented at University of California, Berkeley, Sociology Department, October, 1984.
21) "The Effects of Mass Media Violence on Real World Behavior: Suicides, Homicides, and Capital Punishment." Presented at University of California, Los Angeles, Communications Program, February, 1985.
22) "Mass Media Effects on Violence." Presented at the Police Foundation, Washington, D.c., February, 1985. [Televised Panel Discussion]
23) "Use of Demographic Data on Suicides, Homicides, and Auto Accidents To Investigate Social Psychological Hypotheses." Presented at the Annual Meetings of the Population Association of
America, Boston, March, 1985.
24) "Mass Media Effects Inside and Outside the Laboratory." Presented at the Harvard University Sociology Department, April, 1985.
25) "Effects of Capital Punishment on Homicide." Presented on Cbs News Nightwatch and on Cbs Morning News, May, 1985. [Televised Debate Between DPP and Samuel Dash, Watergate Special Prosecutor.]
26) "Imitative Suicide." Presented at the Jennifer Jones Simon Suicide Workshop, Co-sponsored by the National Institutes of Mental Health And the Jennifer Jones Simon Foundation, Nimh Campus, November, 1985.
27) "The Impact of Mass Media Violence on U.s. Daily Homicides: Some Replicative Evidence." Presented at University of Pennsylvania, Co-sponsored by Annenberg School of Communications, the Sociology Department, and the Population Studies Center, January, 1986.
28) "New Evidence on the Impact of Mass Media Violence on U.s. Daily Homicides." Presented at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Department of Epidemiology, January, 1986.
29) "Replicative Evidence on the Impact of Mass Media Stories." Presented at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Department of Sociology, January, 1986.
30) "Replicative Research on the Impact of Mass Media Violence." Presented at University of California at Santa Barbara, March, 1986.
31) "Recent Developments in the Study of Imitative Suicide." Presented In a Review Panel at the Annual Meetings of the American Association of Suicidology, April, 1986.
32) "Homicide," Invited Paper Presented at the Conference on Violence In Contemporary Canadian Society, Co-sponsored by the Canadian Department of Justice, the Ministry of the Solicitor General of Canada and the John Howard Society, June, 1986.
33) "The Influence of the Mass Media on Homicides," Invited Paper Presented at Statistics Canada, Co-sponsored by the Canadian Justice Department and the Canadian Vital Statistics Section, June, 1986.
34) "Some Possible Guidelines For the Treatment of News Stories About Suicide," Invited Paper, Presented at the Annual Meeting of Associated Press Managing Editors, October, 1986.
35) "New Directions For the Study of Imitative Suicide," Presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, October, 1986.
36) "The Effect of Publicized Suicide Stories," Invited Paper, Presented In a Plenary Session on Imitation and the Mass Media at the Annual Meetings of the American Association of Suicidology, May, 1987.
37) "Imitative Suicide and Parasuicide," Invited Paper, Presented at the Annual Meetings of the World Psychiatric Association, September, 1987 (reykjavik, Iceland).
38) "The Sociology of Everyday Death," Presented at Duke University Sociology Department, October, 1987.
39) "Social and Psychological Factors Affecting Teen Suicide," Presented at Cornell University Medical Center, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Rounds, March, 1988.
40) "Mortality Surrounding Ceremonial Occasions: Some Evidence For Psycho-somatic Processes," Presented at the Rutgers-princeton Program In Mental Health Research, March, 1988.
41) "Suicide and Other Forms of Violent Death," Presented at the Second European Symposium on Suicidal Behavior, Edinburgh, Scotland, May, 1988.
42) "Misclassification on the Death Certificate," Presented at the San Diego Chapter of the American Statistical Association, San Diego, March, 1989.
43) "A Dip in Deaths Before Ceremonial Occasions: Some Evidence For Psychosomatic Processes," Presented at the Clinical Epidemiology Conference, Ucsd Dept. of Community and Family Medicine, San Diego, March, 1989.
44) "Suicide in the Media: Policies and Responsibilities," Panel Discussion at the American Association of Suicidology, San Diego, April, 1989.
45) "The Epidemiology of Suicide," Presented at the County of San Diego Mental Health Services Workshop on Suicide, May, 1989.
46) "Suicide at Symbolic Ages," Presented at the World Psychiatric Association Epidemiology Meetings, Toronto, Canada, June, 1989.
47) "Suicide in the Mass Media: Some Implications For Public Policy," Presented at Schloss Reisensburg, at the German Society For the Prevention of Suicide, April, 1990.
48) "Some Unexpected Social and Psychological Factors Influencing Mortality From Natural Causes," Presented at the Institute For Social And Preventive Medicine, University of Berne (Switzerland), May, 1990.
49) "Mass Media Influences on Life-threatening Behavior: Evidence And Recommendations," Presented at the Faculty of Social Science, University of Leiden (holland), September, 1990. This Talk Was Followed By a Roundtable Discussion Involving Psychologists and the Director of the Netherlands Press Association.
50) "Reaching a Symbolic Age: a Risk Factor in Overt and Covert Suicides," Plenary Address at the 3d European Symposium on Suicide, Bologna, September, 1990.
51) "The Epidemiology of Suicide," Presented at the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the San Diego Crisis Team, October, 1990.
52) "Some New Evidence For Psychosomatic Influences on Mortality," Presented at Desert Hospital, in the Distinguished Speakers Series, Palm Springs, Ca., March, 1992.
53) "Suicide and Gender," Presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Association of Suicidology, April, 1992.
54) "Applications of Elementary Statistics Which Might Appeal To Junior High and High School Students," Presented at the Annual Meetings of the Mathematics Teacher Institute, San Diego, October, 1992.
55) "A Reduction in Life-span Associated With Negative Psychosocial Intervention," Presented at the Annual Meetings of the European Health Psychology Association, Brussels, Belgium, September, 1993.
56) "A New Method For Investigating the Impact of Psychosomatic Processes On Mortality," Presented at the Psychiatrische Klinik Und Poliklinik, Universit t W rzburg, Wurzburg, Germany, September, 1993.
57) "Upwardly Revised Estimates of the Size of the Aids Epidemic," Presented at the Clinical Epidemiology Conference, Ucsd, November, 1993.
58) "Reduction in Longevity Associated With Psychosomatic Processes," Presented at Grand Rounds Psychiatry, Stanford Medical School, December, 1993.
59) "Is There a Link Between Aids, Suicides, and Accidents," Presented at Aids Clinical Rounds, Ucsd Treatment Center, February, 1994.
60) "Psychology and Survival," Presented at the Ucsd Downtown Lecture Series, February, 1994.
61) the Edward Weiss Lecture, "New Evidence Linking Psychosocial Processes To Mortality," Keynote Address at the American Psychosomatic Society Meetings, Boston, April, 1994.
62) "Dangerousness To Self Findings From Sociology," Presented at a Conference on Dealing With Dangerousness in the 90s, San Diego, February, 1995.
63) "Investigating the Integration of Women Into Science and Medicine," Presented at the Conference on Computing For the Social Sciences, San Diego, June, 1995.
64) "A New Method For Examining the Participation of Women in Research," Presented at Cornell University, Department of Science and Technology Studies, October, 1995.
65) "The Media, Contagion, and Suicide," Panel Discussion at the National Violence Prevention Conference, Sponsored by the Centers For Disease Control, Des Moines, IA, October, 1995.
66) "Overview of Evidence Linking Copycat Suicide and the Media," Panel Discussion at the American Association of Suicidology, St Louis, Mo, April, 1996.
67) "Emile Durkheim: an Appreciation and Criticism," Presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Association of Suicidology, Memphis, Tn, April, 1997.
68) "New Evidence Linking Gambling and Suicide," Presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Association of Suicidology, Memphis, Tn, April, 1997.
69) "The Place of Durkheim's Theory in Current Research on Suicide," Presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, Toronto, August, 1997.
70) "Pent-up Demand For Deaths Facilitated by Physicians," Presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, San Francisco, August, 1998.
71) "Alternatives To Assisted Suicide," Panel Discussion, Co-sponsord by the Poynter Center For the Study of Ethics and American Institutions And the Indiana University School of Law, October, 1998.
72) "Mortality Around the Month Boundary," Epidemiology Conference, Dept. of Family and Preventive Medicine, Ucsd, January, 1999.
73) the Epidemiology of Suicide," Grand Rounds, Department of Family And Community Medicine, U.c. Davis School of Medicine, July, 1999 [Delivered by Video-conference]
74) "Bridging the Disciplines: How To Publish in General Scientific Journals," Presented at a Seminar For Indiana University Sociology Graduate Students, October, 1999.
75) "Does SIDS Have a Homicidal Component?" Dean's Policy Lunch, Ucsd, October, 1999.
76) "Fraud in the Social Security System," Dean's Policy Lunch, Ucsd, October, 2000.
77) "Can Fear Kill? a New Epidemiological Technique For Investigating the Effects of Negative Emotions on Mortality," Epidemiology Conference, Dept. of Family and Preventive Medicine, Ucsd, October, 2000.
78) "Faculty-student Collaboration: Research Opportunities For Undergraduates at Ucsd," Muir Parents Talk, Ucsd, October, 2000.
79) "Evidence of Fraud in the Social Security System," Muir Faculty Lunch Seminar, October, 2000.

Research Interests

Medical Errors
The expansion of legalized gambling and its effects on suicide
Physician-assisted suicide
Impact of mass media violence on aggression
Psychosomatic processes and mortality

Teaching Interests

Suicide and Homicide
Epidemiology
Use of Computers to Analyze Data
Research Methods and Statistics
Demography
Mass media

Editorships and Board Memberships

Consulting Editor, American Journal of Sociology, 1981-1983.
Associate Editor, Suicide and Self-destructive Behavior (to date)
Member of the Board, American Association of Suicidology, 1990-1993.
Member, International Academy of Suicide Research.

Consultantships

General Motors Research Corporation, Department of Societal Analysis, March, 1979-1983
Various legal firms and other clients requiring statistical analysis and reanalysis of data.
Various legal firms requiring testimony on homicide.
Various legal firms concerned with motor vehicle or airplane accidents that may have a suicidal component.
Ministry of the Canadian Solicitor General, Statistics Division, August, 1985

Converted by David Phillips and Andrew Scriven