Psychologist

Toni Lynette Welch, 43, of East Falls, a psychologist, died Saturday, June 30, of breast cancer at home. Ms. Welch joined the staff of CareLink Community Support Services in Norristown in 2006. She was the program leader for CareLink's Star Program, which offered psychiatric day treatment for adults with sexual issues, until she became ill two years ago. Previously, Ms. Welch had been a psychologist for the Civil Mental Health Court in Philadelphia, which hears cases involving the rights of mentally ill people.

Thomas Edison famously quipped that genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration. A study this week suggests that perspiration is important not just for creating new inventions but for getting a good score on an IQ test. A team led by University of Pennsylvania psychologist Angela Duckworth examined data collected from dozens of studies and concluded that test-takers who were motivated by money scored considerably better. The role of motivation was especially important at the lower end of the spectrum, where a financial incentive could raise IQ as much as 15 points.

A long-simmering human pressure cooker named Ken Kim finally blew on Dec. 12, when he shot his boss to death at a Bensalem tire shop. That was the view of a defense psychologist as testimony concluded yesterday in Kim's first-degree murder trial. Jury deliberations are expected to begin today in Bucks County Court. No one disputes that Kim, 31, of Philadelphia, shot and killed store manager Joseph Phillips at the Firestone Tire & Auto Center. Phillips, 39, of Ridley Park, died a month later without regaining consciousness.

A Family Court psychologist who reported his boss to state officials for allegedly practicing psychology without a license is being fired at the end of the month after a 30-day suspension without pay. H. Eduardo Pino, 40, a Chilean-born doctor of psychology in the court's Medical Branch, describes himself as a frequent critic of Family Court policy during his 4 1/2 years there. "I am the whistleblower who pointed out the fraud, waste and improprieties in the Medical Branch," said Pino, the only Spanish-speaking psychologist on the staff.

A 30-year-old Center City psychologist was found stabbed to death in the hallway of his home yesterday, 13 hours after someone apparently tried to steal his expensive sports car. Randal Weiss, who lived and kept an office in a rented townhouse on Rodman Street near 19th, was found by one of his housemates in a pool of blood yesterday shortly after 2:30 p.m., police said. He had been stabbed numerous times, said Homicide Lt. Victor Marcone. Police said Weiss had been to the movies Saturday night with two friends and had returned to his house with them about 12:30 a.m. yesterday.

Sally Green, 71, a University of Pennsylvania psychologist whose course on human sexuality entertained, amused and, most important, informed students for 20 years, died Nov. 23 of complications from leukemia at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She had been a resident of Haverford. Mrs. Green's course was the "kind you slept over to get into," said Eliot Kaplan, former editor of Philadelphia Magazine, who managed to find his way into the course in 1978 as a senior majoring in political science.

A psychologist who said that a Philadelphia police officer beat him so badly last year that his eye socket was partially crushed has won a $285,000 settlement from the city, but questions about the case remain. Meanwhile, the officer, Eric Burke, is still on duty, a police spokesman said. The alleged beating of Anthony Abrams occurred March 8, 2010, at 5th and York streets, where Abrams said that he had gone to meet a client. Abrams said in a lawsuit filed in September that he was doing research for a federally funded study of addiction when a patient promised to meet him at 5th and York.

Struggling lefthander Bruce Ruffin acknowledges that the Phillies have mentioned the possibility of having him visit a psychologist. But Ruffin - who reportedly went on a clubhouse rampage after a bad outing Tuesday - said he doesn't feel he needs to take that step yet. Ruffin has a 13.50 earned run average and seven wild pitches in 6 2/3 innings since being sent to Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre last week. "It's been mentioned, but right now they're going to leave it up to me," Ruffin said of possible psychological treatment.

When Edward Jones takes his medicine for paranoid schizophrenia, his symptoms - delusions and hallucinations - "diminish a little," a psychologist testified yesterday at Jones' trial for pushing an elderly woman into the path of a subway train. But when Jones, 35, who has been treated for mental illness off and on since he was 19, is not taking his medication, he is preoccupied by voices from two men whom Jones calls Rapalo and Horatio. They are "the devils' imps," testified Thomas C. Barrett, who, as former director of court psychological services for the Bucks County Prison, evaluated the psychological condition of inmates.

Before Facebook, MySpace, and AOL chat rooms, Ruth Ballentine Harvey tried to help strangers meet strangers. A 1989 Philadelphia Daily News profile reported that she had been running singles workshops with titles such as "Liking, Loving, and Loneliness. " A 1994 Daily News book review said she had "conducted workshops on 'Great Places to Meet People' for 10 years. " She summed up her years of meeting and greeting with her 1994 book about those places, Connecting in Philadelphia . On Tuesday, May 31, Mrs. Harvey, 69, a former psychologist for the Philadelphia School District and SEPTA, among others, died of complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, at home in Roxborough.