Lifetime Legacy Award
Connell School of Nursing Professor Ann Wolbert Burgess, a pioneer in forensic nursing whose life’s work has transformed how health care, law enforcement, and the courts understand and respond to violence, was honored with a Lifetime Legacy Award from the American Academy of Nursing (AAN). The award, presented at the Academy’s Health Policy Conference held earlier this month in Washington, D.C., recognizes extraordinary individuals who have dedicated their life to advocating for positive health system changes.
In the 1970s, Burgess and Boston College sociologist Lynda Lytle Holmstrom interviewed nearly 150 victims of rape to understand the emotional and traumatic effects of sexual violence. They coined the phrase “rape trauma syndrome” to describe the psychological aftereffects of an attack that would often outlast the physical effects. She helped establish one of the first hospital-based crisis counseling programs for rape victims at Boston City Hospital. Her research in this area brought her to the attention of the FBI, and soon she was part of the agency’s criminal personality study, helping to construct profiles of serial killers.
She recounted her story in the book A Killer by Design, co-authored with CSON Associate Director of Marketing and Communications Steven Constantine, which inspired the Hulu docuseries “Mindhunter.” A second book by Burgess and Constantine, Expert Witness: The Weight of Our Testimony When Justice Hangs in the Balance, chronicled Burgess’s courtroom testimony and psychiatric assessments that played critical roles in numerous high-profile criminal cases.
“I’m deeply grateful to the American Academy of Nursing for this honor and to the colleagues and students who have helped carry this work forward,” said Burgess. “At Boston College, I have the privilege of working with students who bring new questions and a strong commitment to people affected by violence and trauma. Seeing the next generation take what we have learned and find ways to improve care is one of the most rewarding parts of my career.”
This award is the latest accolade for the highly respected nurse, whom the AAN previously designated a “Living Legend.” Burgess has also received a Living Legend Award from the New England Chapter of the American Psychiatric Nursing Association and been inducted into the Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame, among other honors. In 2009, the International Association of Forensic Nurses established the Ann Burgess Forensic Nursing Award in her honor and bestowed her with the inaugural award.
The AAN serves the public by advancing health policy and practice through the generation, synthesis, and dissemination of nursing knowledge. Academy Fellows are inducted into the organization for their extraordinary contributions to improve health locally and globally. With more than 3,400 Fellows, the academy represents nursing’s most accomplished leaders in policy, research, administration, practice, and academia.