Ann Burgess


Ann C. Wolbert Burgess is a researcher whose work has focused on developing ways to assess and treat trauma in rape victims. She is a professor at the William F. Connell School of Nursing at Boston College.

Career

Burgess is a doctorally-prepared, board-certified psychiatric clinical nurse specialist.
She pioneered assessing and treating trauma in rape victims. She co-founded one of the first hospital-based crisis counseling programs at Boston City Hospital with Boston College sociologist, Lynda Lytle Holmstrom. She later consulted John E. Douglas, Robert Ressler, and other FBI agents in the Behavioral Science Unit to develop modern psychological profiling for serial killers. She has provided expert testimony on sexual assault cases.

Awards

She has received multiple awards and distinctions including being named a Living Legend by the American Academy of Nursing in October 2016, and receiving the inaugural Ann Burgess Forensic Nursing Award by the International Association of Forensic Nurses in 2009, Sigma Theta Tau International Audrey Hepburn Award, the American Nurses Association Hildegard Peplau Award, and the Sigma Theta Tau International Episteme Laureate Award. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Boston University, a Master of Science in Nursing from University of Maryland, and a Doctor of Nursing Science from Boston University.

Selected bibliography

The following is a partial list of Burgess's publications.

Books

Influence

The Netflix series Mindhunter based the character of Dr. Wendy Carr, portrayed by Anna Torv, directly on Ann Wolbert Burgess. Several liberties were taken with the character of Dr. Carr, including making her a lesbian and having her move full-time down to Quantico. In addition, Ann Burgess is not a psychologist but rather a psychiatric nurse practitioner.