July 30, 2020
NCSI is delighted to inform the courts and health care communities that nine judges completed
NCSI’s training curriculum in health care outcomes research evidence this month. All judges will
hopefully become the judicial faculty core for a second training cycle expected to begin on-line at the end
of the year and culminate in certification of an additional 50 judges nationwide at the Medical University
of South Carolina and the Charleston School of Law, a national conference scheduled in Charleston,
November 3-5 2021. The certification project was undertaken solely with NCSI’S funds and the pre-
concentration seminars were funded through a grant at the UNC Bryson Program for Judicial Science
Education Trust.
The following jurists, completed all requirements for certification as resource judges for complex
cases that involve advanced evidence in health care experimental trials and treatments:
ILLINOIS
Hon. William H. Hooks, Judge, Cook County Circuit Court, Chicago
KANSAS
Hon. Norbert C. Marek, Judge. 2nd Judicial District, Holton
Hon. Marilyn M. Wilder, Judge, 9th Judicial District, Newton
MARYLAND
Hon. Anne K. Albright, Judge, Montgomery County Circuit Court, Rockville
MISSOURI
Hon. Cory L. Atkins, Circuit Judge, 16th Judicial Circuit, Independence
Hon. Deborah Daniels, Associate Circuit Judge, retired, 13th Judicial Circuit, Columbia
Hon. Timothy J. Flook, Associate Circuit Judge, 7th Judicial Circuit, Liberty
Hon. Daniel G. Pelikan, Presiding Judge, 11th Judicial Circuit, St. Charles
NORTH CAROLINA
Hon. Eric C. Morgan, Resident Superior Court Judge, 21st Judicial District, Winston-Salem
With approximately 120 hours of science related content, the recently certified resource judges
elected the 60 hour NCSI health outcomes concentration from among our six concentrations in novel
scientific and technical evidence.
The HCORE Concentration is chaired by an NCSI Director, Hon. Michele D. Hotten, Judge of the Court of Appeals of Maryland. Its chief science advisor is Dr. Daniel T. Lackland, Professor of Epidemiology, Medical University of South Carolina, (MUSC), Charleston. Two additional faculty have assisted the HCORE training program, both from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine: Dr. William A. Hannah is this Concentrations chief advisor for clinical genetics. Assistant Professor Kate Foreman instructs with respect to the practical operations of human subject review boards mandated by Federal and State Law. Dr. Franklin M. Zweig, NCSI Vice President, coordinated the HCORE Concentration.
Health care outcomes are frequently the kind of evidence that trial and appellate judges experience in robustly-contested “battles of the experts.” We focus upon understanding the background research terminology; randomized clinical trials as the standard approach to determining safety and efficacy; the peer review procedures of claimed measures of health care impact; and the great current furor of publication worthiness in established and pay-for-publication journals. Indeed, the HCORE-trained judges emphasized research procedures aimed at achieving official public health endorsements along a variety of pathways.
In NCSI’s view, these judges are eminently qualified to preside in cases with research-based claims of valid evidence. They can hopefully provide assistance to colleagues. Their counsel in education services offerings could be helpful, as would be advice to their respective court systems’ evidence rule-making and oversight.
For additional information about HCORE Concentration certification and science and technology
resource judge training more generally, please contact:
Franklin M. Zweig, Ph.D., JD
Vice President and Senior Fellow
National Courts and Sciences Institute
5614 Connecticut Avenue NW - Suite 199
Washington, DC 20015
(240) 687-5392 cell phone
zweigtech@gmail.com
www.courtsandsciences.org