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On the day Deborah Blum set her hair on fire, she was dreaming of being a chemist. One of her long braids brushed a Bunsen burner and a moment later a grad student in the lab said, “Do you smell smoke?”
Whether or not that memorable moment in a college classroom decided the issue, Blum became a journalist instead. She has won a Pulitzer Prize and currently teaches investigative reporting and creative non-fiction at University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Still, she never abandoned her inner chemist. And now, after several acclaimed books, including Love at Goon Park and Ghost Hunters, Blum, 55, is awaiting the imminent publication of a new book that places her smack back in the laboratory.
The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York, due next month, is being heralded as the work of a gifted writer who knows her science.
In an advance review, Publishers Weekly noted “Blum makes chemistry come alive in her enthralling account of two forensic pioneers in early 20th Century New York.... With the pacing and rich characterization of a first-rate suspense novelist, Blum makes science accessible and fascinating.”
Blum’s two protagonists are Alexander Gettler, New York City’s first toxicologist, and Gettler’s boss, Charles Norris, the city’s chief medical examiner.
To say the two have been neglected by history is to understate it. When Blum traveled to New York to view Norris’s papers in the municipal archive, she was initially told a Norris archive did not exist.
It existed, all right, and it helped lead Blum to dozens of cases in which Norris and Gettler pioneered the chemical detective work that identified previously untraceable poisons and convicted numerous murderers who might otherwise have gone free.
Blum and her husband, Peter Haugen, bought a home on Madison’s West Side in August 1997. Deborah, who had attended graduate school at UW-Madison in the early 1980s, was coming back to teach. The move was also designed to give her more time to work on books. She was coming from newspapers. Blum won the Pulitzer in 1992 for her reporting in the Sacramento Bee on the ethics of using primates in research and that in turn led to her first book, “The Monkey Wars.”
The move to Madison triggered a book set in the city. “Love at Goon Park” told the story of Harry Harlow, a UW-Madison psychology professor whose work on the science of affection proved the importance of loving relationships to monkeys and humans. The psychology department was housed at 600 N. Park St., an address that when written hastily on an envelope could appear to say Goon Park — hence the book’s title.
Blum followed with “Ghost Hunters,” the story of scientist and physician William James — brother of the novelist Henry — and his attempt to prove the existence of life after death.
“Poisoner’s Handbook” was suggested by Blum’s agent, who remembered a conversation early in Blum’s career in which she had talked about doing a novel on a poisoner who taunted the police.
The subject had, indeed, always fascinated Blum. There is no ambiguity in a murder by poison.
“Poisoners are planners,” Blum was saying Monday. “They’re the coldest of all killers.”
Until the 1920s, there was often little hope of catching them. Blum recast her early idea as non-fiction and set a wide net in her research — helped by a graduate student assistant, Kajsa Dalrymple — eventually settling on Norris and Gettler, and their work in New York, to tell the tale.
Blum has chapters on cyanides, arsenic, carbon monoxide and other toxins, but all roads lead back to Norris and Gettler, who in their Bellevue Hospital lab matched wits with the poisoners.
“Science is such a human enterprise,” Blum said, which is another way of saying the science is only as good as the people who are applying it. Norris and Gettler were plenty good, and they were occasionally lucky, and now all these years later they’re lucky again. Lucky that Deborah Blum decided to write about them.
Reference:
Moe, D. (2010). Uw journalism prof's book on forensics gets positive reaction. Wisconsin State Journal, Retrieved from http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/doug_moe/article_95870deb-c78f-5eec-a54a-03f950dc2c57.html
The quickly growing field of forensic nursing offers great opportunities and rewarding career options. Because of this it can be hard to set yourself apart from your colleagues and peers, the Certified Forensic Nursing program can help you do just that.
What the CFN program can do for you
The Certified Forensic Nurse program will prepare as well as educate you onthe following things:
Want to know more about the American College of Forensic Examiners? Read the definitive history of the world's foremost association for foresnic experts, mental health professionals, and homeland security experts. If you want to understand the rise of ACFEI, this is the only book you'll ever need.
You can access United for Truth here.
Aside from our many strategic alliances and accreditations, here are some more things to keep in mind before choosing a credentialing program, and why the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute and its sister associations are a good choice to make:
For more information about credentials, the associations, or our journals, please visit us:
The American College of Forensic Examiners Institute: www.acfei.com
The American Psychotherapy Association: www.americanpsychotherapy.com
The American Association of Integrative Medicine: www.aaimedicine.com
The American Board for Certification in Homeland Security: www.abchs.com
Membership. Some of The American College of Forensic Examiners’ well-known members and Board members include; Dr. Henry Lee, Dr. Greg Vecchi, Dr. Zhaoming Chen, Dr. Marc Rabinoff, Congressmen Billy Long and Steven King, and Governor Tom Ridge. These individuals, as well as many other not listed here, have helped mold and guide ACFEI to be the prestigious, online, interactive, multimedia publisher that it is today. They have contributed their knowledge and expertise to ACFEI’s online credentialing programs such as the Certified Forensic Physician®, CFP program; the Registered Investigator®, RI®, program; and the Certified Forensic Consultant, CFC® program; to name a few.
ACFEI and all of its associations are continually seeking further validations, alliances, and accreditations in order to offer maximum continuing education benefits to its thousands of members. Sometimes it is our very members who foster these relationships; we encourage you to get involved and share your ideas for future alliances! This is a group of associations that recognize themselves as yours. We invite you to add your expertise to the pool and make it even greater.
Call (800) 423-9737 for more information, or visit acfei.com.
ACFEI is also an approved provider of training by the following professional organizations:
The outside bodies listed above, as well as the many other attest to the fact that the ACFEI has met or exceeded their regulations and standards to be approved providers of training. Organizations that represent medical doctors, accountants, psychologists, attorneys, law enforcement officers, dentists, military personnel, and numerous other professions and specialties would never approve an lesser, unregulated institution to provide training to these important persons.
Please contact either the American College of Forensic Examiners International, The American Board for Certifcation in Homeland Security, The American Association of Integrative Medicine, or the American Psychotherapy Association for more information about their respective programs, accrediting organizations, and educational opportunities:
www.acfei.com; (800) 423-9737
www.abchs.com; (877) 219-2519
www.aaimedicine.com; (877) 718-3053
www.americanpsycotherapy.com; (800) 205-9165
As the editor in chief of The Forensic Examiner, Annals of the American Psychotherapy Association, and Inside Homeland Security (all peer-reviewed and available on newsstands); and for the associations themselves (The American College of Forensic Examiners International, The American Board for Certification in Homeland Security, the American Psychotherapy Association, and the American Association of Integrative Medicine), I have the privilege of working not only with individuals with remarkable talent, credentials, experience, and professionalism here at the ACFEI Headquarters, but also with the thousands of members who renew their memberships year after year to learn, network, and even teach one another.
I am proud to work with the courses and articles conceived and written by dedicated professionals who have made it their living to help heal, defend, serve, protect, and save their fellow citizens from terrorism, criminals, mental illness, disease, and so many other world problems and pandemics. I have reviewed dozens of resumes and curriculum vitae for my peer reviewers and course authors. Their degrees, credentials, and experience speak for themselves of the excellence embraced and exuded by the associations.
Under the umbrella of the American College of Forensic Examiners International, I have reviewed and edited articles that discuss cutting-edge research written with government agents I interviewed in person at Quantico; I have met forensic legends Dr. Cyril Wecht and Dr. Henry Lee (both long-time ACFEI members); and I get to see to completion the modules and coursework that are born of the passion of many prominent individuals from an array of important fields. I know for a fact that the continuing education curricula individuals like these and others help create are forged from impeccable research, training, and consultation. These people are far too intelligent, prestigious, and philanthropic to waste their time with lesser organizations; Dr. Robert O’Block’s ACFEI stands only for legitimacy and professionalism.
What is it that draws so many—nurses, physicians, soldiers, investigators, government employees, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and a sheer multitude of other honorable professions—into the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute fold? Decide for yourself, as thousands wisely did before you:
www.acfei.com
www.abchs.com
www.americanpsychotherapy.com
www.aaimedicine.com
The American College of Forensic Examiners Institute began in 1992; it is still here. Most membership associations rise and fall in less than a decade, but the passion of ACFEI’s founder, Dr. Robert O’Block, and the thousands of reputable people his associations help each year, has fueled continued growth since ACFEI’s inception nearly two decades ago.
As we continually improve our continuing education coursework, Web presence, and printed publications, that growth is bound to continue. The fields in which our members work, study, and fight—homeland security, all areas of forensics, integrative medicine, and psychotherapy—are not going anywhere anytime soon, and are dynamic and ever evolving. When you join the American Board for Certification in Homeland Security, the American Association for Integrative Medicine, the American Psychotherapy Association, or the tried-and-true American College of Forensic Examiners Institute, you will see that we rise above the competition in offering continuing education excellence. Dr. Robert O’Block has created a unique opportunity for you to meet like-minded professionals to network, learn, and teach one another and the world at large.
To learn more about each of these associations, please come see us:
The American College of Forensic Examiners: www.acfei.com
The American Board for Certification in Homeland Security: www.abchs.com
The American Association of Integrative Medicine: www.aaim.com
The American Psychotherapy Association: www.americanpsychotherapy.com
The American College of Forensic Examiners International began in 1992; it is still here. Most membership associations rise and fall in less than a decade, but the passion of ACFEI’s founder, Dr. Robert O’Block, and the thousands of reputable people his associations help each year, has fueled continued growth since ACFEI’s inception nearly two decades ago.
As we continually improve our continuing education coursework, Web presence, and printed publications, that growth is bound to continue. The fields in which our members work, study, and fight are not going anywhere anytime soon, and are dynamic and ever evolving. When you join the American Board for Certification in Homeland Security, the American Association for Integrative Medicine, the American Psychotherapy Association, or the tried-and-true American College of Forensic Examiners Institute, you will see that we rise above the competition in offering continuing education excellence. Dr. Robert O’Block has created a unique opportunity for you to meet like-minded professionals to network, learn, and teach one another and the world at large.
To learn more, please visit www.acfei.com.
What is it that draws so many—nurses, physicians, soldiers, investigators, government employees, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, forensic dentists, and a sheer multitude of other honorable professions—into the American College of Forensic Examiners Institute fold? Let me share with you just a few of the numerous reasons so you can better decide for yourself, as thousands wisely did before you:
Accreditation. The American College of Forensic Examiners Institute is an approved provider of continuing education by the following:
Continuing education alignments. In addition to the several accreditations above, we are also proud to inform you that:
To learn more, visit www.acfei.com
Copyright ©2009
ABFD,
ACFEI,
and ABCHS. All rights reserved. Dr. Robert O'Block, Founder, CEO, and Publisher.
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