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   * The Art and Science of Expert Witness Testimony

In Memoriam


KAREN POSTAL, PH.D., ABPP-CN

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


DR. KAREN POSTAL, INNOVATOR IN NEUROPSYCHOLOGY
AND CLINICAL INSTRUCTOR AT HARVARD, PASSES AWAY AT AGE 52

Andover, MA – Karen Postal, Ph.D., ABPP-CN, board-certified neuropsychologist,
renowned author, and clinical instructor at Harvard Medical School passed away
March 20th due to ovarian cancer. She was 52 years old. Dr. Postal was an
exceptional clinical neuropsychologist, who valued and refined the art of
communicating neuropsychology in clinical practice with her patients and in the
forensic arena as an expert witness.

Dr. Postal has served as president of the American Academy of Clinical
Neuropsychology and is the author of three seminal books: The Art and Science of
Expert Witness Testimony: A Multidisciplinary Guide for Professionals
(Routledge, 2022); Testimony That Sticks: The Art of Communicating Psychology
and Neuropsychology to Jurors (Oxford, 2019); and co-author of Feedback that
Sticks: The Art of Effectively Communicating Neuropsychological Assessment
Results (Oxford, 2013).

Dr. Postal was a Clinical Instructor in Psychology for the Department of
Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School from 2011 until the time of her passing.
Among her many clinical appointments, she was co-founder of the Memory Disorders
Clinic and Staff Clinical Neuropsychologist for the Northeast Rehabilitation
Hospital. Dr. Postal has also been President of the Massachusetts Psychological
Association and the Massachusetts Neuropsychology Society. She was a founding
member of the Inter-Organizational Practice Committee.

Dr. Postal was a passionate teacher and mentor, and had a private practice in
Andover, Massachusetts, where she went out of her way to help others, touching
the lives of patients and colleagues with her warmth and compassion, according
to Margaret Lanca, PhD. and President of the Society of Clinical Neuropsychology
(Division 40), “She will always be remembered as a beloved colleague, friend,
and visionary professional,” Dr. Dean Beebe remembers Dr. Postal as “having the
rare ability to match quick wit and keen observations with an emphatic spirit …
Karen lifted people up allowing them to see the world in a fresh, productive
light.”

Born in Washington, DC, Dr. Postal got her B.A. at the University of California,
Berkeley, and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at The Wright. Institute in
Berkeley, CA.

Dr. Postal is survived by her mother, Susan Spangenberg, her sisters Anne
Spangenberg and Susan Rausser, and her three children: Andrew, Robert and
Caroline, whom she raised with her former spouse William Postal, MD.

A private memorial ceremony was held on March 23rd. In lieu of flowers, people
may donate to a fund established in Dr. Postal’s name at Mass General Hospital
Cancer Center by designating: “Karen Postal Fund for Innovation” at
https://giving.massgeneral.org/donate.


THE ART AND SCIENCE OF EXPERT WITNESS TESTIMONY:A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY GUIDE FOR
PROFESSIONALS

by Karen Postal

The Art and Science of Expert Witness Testimony challenges the idea that
testimony is a one way download from expert to passive audience and instead
places the dynamic, unique communication relationship experts build with jurors
at the center of the goal as expert witnesses. This multiyear research project
shares in-depth interviews of attorneys, judges, and seasoned forensic experts
from multiple disciplines including medicine, economics, history, and
neuropsychology to offer practical insights for the communication needs and
expectations of the courtroom that collide with an experts’ communication
habits.

The book expands the academic tradition of “methods-centered credibility” to
also include “person-centered credibility,” where warmth, confidence, and
relentless attention to detail builds trust with jurors. This innovative
research shines a light on the failure of traditional academic communication and
introduces the art of accessing science and professional opinions with vivid,
clear language and strong visuals to communicate a cohesive story during
testimony.

Reading this book is like being personally mentored by over 85 attorneys,
judges, and seasoned experts as they share their observations, insights, and
strategies: not to “win” as a defense, prosecution, or plaintiff expert, but in
the neuroscience behind helping jurors and other triers of fact do their
difficult intellectual job in deciding a case.

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TESTIMONY THAT STICKS:THE ART OF COMMUNICATING PSYCHOLOGY AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGY TO
JURIES

by Karen Postal

Dr. Postal demonstrates, through the words of forensic experts, how to translate
complex, highly technical neuropsychological and psychological information for
jurors in a way that is engaging, understandable, and sets the truth on fire (to
quote Faulkner). Testimony That Sticks shares the fruits of four years of
in-depth interviews with seasoned forensic neuropsychologists and psychologists,
as well as attorneys and judges, to present what experts actually say on the
stand.

This book allows readers to be a fly on the wall in a courtroom watching
testimony strategies and techniques for communicating science to juries and
other triers of fact in action.

At its heart, this landmark book shows how academics can shed their
instructional, scientific training communication style to communicate clearly
and simply about psychology and neuroscience by shedding jargon, freeing up body
language, and using vivid, clear language to create moments of genuine,
productive communication during testimony.

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FEEDBACK THAT STICKS:THE ART OF COMMUNICATING NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT
RESULTS

by Karen Postal and Kira Armstrong

This book is about how to give outstanding feedback to patients, their family
members, and other professionals. Effective feedback sessions have the potential
to help patients understand their neurocognitive syndromes, in the larger
context of their real-world environments, in a positive manner that is
potentially life altering.

As our profession has matured, feedback sessions with patients and family
members have become the norm rather than the exception. Feedback that Sticks
presents a compilation of the clinical feedback strategies neuropsychologists
use with patients who present with a wide variety of neurological and
developmental conditions. Despite the burgeoning neuropsychological literature
describing sophisticated assessment methods, there has been almost no parallel
literature describing techniques for communicating this information to patients
and other professionals. This book is essential training for neuropsychologists
to effectively communicate intrinsically complex assessment results, and deliver
the type of salient feedback that alters lives.

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©2024 Karen Postal. All Rights Reserved.   |  
(978) 475-2025
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