Savannah Lusk, PhD

Infant Death Investigation and Prevention Training (IDIPT)

Earlier this year, Dr. Savannah Lusk, an esteemed researcher in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and William Brewster, Chief Medical Examiner Investigator for Fort Bend County, developed a specialized two-day training program for law enforcement officers to improve death scene investigations in cases of sudden and unexpected infant deaths, commonly known as SUIDI (Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Investigation). SUID is a heartbreaking phenomenon, claiming the lives of about 4,000 infants in the U.S. every year, including 80 in Harris County, Texas alone. Despite its devastating impact, the training and tools needed to investigate these cases properly are lacking nationwide.

Through detailed investigations, the data collected becomes invaluable – helping medical examiners determine the cause of death, researchers identify patterns, and public health advocates address potential risks in products and environments. Unfortunately, many officers lack the necessary training, leaving critical data uncollected. We are committed to changing this. Our mission is to provide law enforcement with comprehensive training and a complete SUIDI kit, enabling them to return to their communities equipped to perform these vital investigations with precision and empathy.

Our initial goal is to train 2,000 officers across Texas. While we’ve received generous initial funding from the Isabel Davis Center for Safe Children, we need additional support to continue and expand this life-saving training. Each class costs between $5,500 and $9,500, covering essential items like the SUIDI kits, which include tactical bags, reenactment dolls, and mattress firmness test kits. Your donation will ensure that officers receive this training at no cost to their departments and leave with the tools needed to carry out effective, compassionate investigations.

This program can transform SUID investigations in Texas and beyond, providing grieving families with answers and helping prevent future tragedies. We invite you to join us in making a tangible impact on infant mortality by supporting this critical training initiative. Together, we can give our officers the resources to make a difference and honor the memory of infants lost to SUID.

Feel free to ask questions or for more details on how your support can help us protect our children. Thank you for considering this vital cause.

BRYANT RedCap Database

I have created a RedCap database called BRYANT to catalog 1,403 variables describing the circumstances, health, and autopsy results from each infant death in Texas. Because this is an in-house database, I can continue adding variables to this dataset as the Isabel Davis Center for Safe Children offers additional advanced testing for these fatalities including microbiomics, genomics, and metabolomics. In collaboration with the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, Fort Bend County Medical Examiner Office, Galveston County Medical Examiner Office, Lubbock County Medical Examiner Office, Hill Country Forensics, LLC (privately contracted medical examiner for many counties), and Drs. Angela Bachim and Kimberly Lopez from the Harris County Child Fatality Review Team, I retro- and prospectively review SUID and control cases from 2004 into the foreseeable future. In examining these cases, data for the 1,403 variables are quantitatively cataloged in the BRYANT database. My law enforcement- and medicolegal death investigator-accredited training program provides the improved data collection at the level of the investigation and further support medical examiners in case adjudication.