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Neal Baer
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Neal Baer (born 1955) is an American pediatrician and television writer and producer. He is best known for his work on the television shows Designated Survivor, ER and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
Key Information
Early life and education
[edit]Baer was born in 1955. His father, Sylvan, was a surgeon and his mother was very active politically.[4] He graduated from Cherry Creek High School in 1973 and later graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in political science from Colorado College.[5] Baer attended the AFI Conservatory as a directing fellow in 1983.[5][6][7] Baer studied for a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in Sociology and focused on family policy.[7] Baer attended Harvard Medical School from 1991 to 1996.[7] The final part of his training overlapped with his work in television, and he completed his degree by undertaking electives at UCLA and returning to Harvard during breaks in production.[7]
Baer graduated from Harvard Medical School and completed his internship in Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.[5][6] He received the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Scholarship from the American Medical Association as the most outstanding medical student who has contributed to promoting a better understanding of medicine in the media.[5] He balanced completing his medical internship with working in television, again practicing medicine in breaks in filming including working as a resident at Children's Hospital in December 1997 and March, April, and May 1998.[7]
Baer also holds a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.[5][6] In 2000, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Colorado College.[5]
Career
[edit]Academic career
[edit]Baer has written extensively on adolescent health issues for Scholastic Magazine, covering such topics as teen pregnancy, AIDS, drug and alcohol abuse, and nutrition.[5] Baer taught elementary school in Colorado and also worked as a research associate at USC Medical School, where he focused on drug and alcohol abuse prevention.[5] The American Association for the Advancement of Science selected him as a Mass Media Fellow.[5] In 2003, he was honored by Physicians for Social Responsibility, Lupus L.A., and the Media Project.[5]
Baer serves on the boards of many organizations related to health care, including the Venice Family Clinic, RAND Health, Children Now, the Huckleberry Fund of Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.[5] Baer is a member of the Board of Associates at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.[5] He is currently engaged in work to improve the visibility of social determinants of health in media.[8]
Television career
[edit]Baer began his work in television by writing and directing an ABC Afterschool Special entitled "Private Affairs".[5] The program dealt with sexually transmitted diseases, and was selected by The Association of Women in Film and Television as the Best Children's Drama of the Year.[5] In January of 1988, Baer would appear as a contestant on episode #182 of Classic Concentration with Alex Trebek[9] where he mentions writing and selling a script for "a TV show for kids."
Baer was hired by writer and producer John Wells to write for drama series China Beach.[6][7] The series focused on nurses in Vietnam and Baer was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Screenplay in Episodic Drama his work on the episode "Warriors".[5] During this time, Baer prepared a film script treatment for Paramount called The Lost Mariner, based on a story from the book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks, but the project was not produced.[7]
Baer was hired by John Wells again as a staff writer for the first season of ER. He contributed directly to four episodes and his medical experience informed other storylines.[7] He became a story editor for the second season, taking responsibility for compiling scripts and developing the medical storylines.[7] As a story editor, Baer worked alongside fellow medical professional Lance Gentile. Baer remained a regular writer and contributed scripts for the episodes "Hell and High Water" and "The Match". Baer and Gentile were promoted to executive story editors by the end of the season. Baer was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series at the 1996 awards for his work on "Hell and High Water".[5]
Baer became a co-producer on the third season of ER and wrote a further four episodes. The third season was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series at the 1997 awards. The producers shared the nomination for their work on the season. Baer was personally nominated for a second Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for his work on the episode "Whose Appy Now?".[5] He was also nominated a second Writers Guild of America award for Best Screenplay in Episodic Drama for the same episode in at the 1998 ceremony.[5]
Baer was promoted to producer for the fourth season and wrote two more episodes. The season was again nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series at the 1998 awards and Baer shared the nomination for a second time.
Baer was promoted again to supervising producer for the fifth season. He was responsible for writing a two more episodes, continuing to develop medical storylines for all episodes, and supervising other aspects of production including casting, design, directing, and editing.[7] Baer was also responsible for answering mail relating to the medical aspects of the series and for developing projects that drew on ER to promote public health including a series of news segments covering issues related to the series.[7] The fifth season was also nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series at the 1999 awards and Baer shared the nomination for a third time.
Baer became a co-executive producer for the sixth season of ER and wrote a further three episodes. The sixth season was also nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series at the 2000 awards and Baer shared the nomination for a fourth time.
Baer was promoted to executive producer for the seventh season of ER and wrote one more episode. The seventh season was also nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series at the 2001 awards, marking Baer's fifth consecutive nomination for the award. Baer left ER following the seventh season, having been a producer for five seasons and with 18 episodes as a writer.
Following his departure from ER, Baer became executive producer and showrunner for Law & Order: Special Victims Unit from the second season until departing after 12th season to move to CBS Television Studios.[10]
Baer has written the pilot episode of two unproduced television series; The Edge for CBS and Outreach for the WB Network.[5] Baer served as a writer and producer for the pilot of Outreach and the episode aired on A&E in 1999, but the series was not picked up. Baer has also written an unproduced film for Twentieth Century Fox entitled The Doctor Corps.[5] Baer is a trustee of the Writers Guild of America Health and Pension Fund.[5]
From 2013-2015, he served as showrunner and executive producer of the TV series Under the Dome.[11] In 2015, he co-wrote along Marc Cherry and Dan Truly the pilot episode of the comedy crime series Cheerleader Death Squad.[12]
Fox has purchased Baer's show The Beast for the 2017-2018 season. The show, to be written by Baer and Dawn DeNoon and produced by 20th Century Fox Television in association with Baer Bones, will be a medical drama in which the main character has a clinical fear of death.[13]
In 2018, it was announced that Baer was hired as the showrunner for the third season of the political thriller drama series Designated Survivor. The third season which consists of 10 episodes, premiered on Netflix on June 7, 2019.[14]
Film career
[edit]A documentary film co-produced by Baer and Christine O'Malley and directed by Patrick Creadon, If You Build It, shows a year in the life of an innovative school in Bertie County, North Carolina. Facing a bleak economic future in the county, Bertie Public Schools Superintendent Chip Zullinger invites Emily Pilloton and Matt Miller to create a high school shop class for the 21st century. Their hope is that people's lives are changed due to great design. The film is part of the Art, Architecture, and Design series at the Newport Beach Film Festival in Newport Beach, CA. The film was released on 6 April 2013.[15]
Personal life
[edit]Baer lives in Los Angeles in the Hollywood Hills West neighborhood.[16][17] In a July 2014 blog for The Huffington Post, Baer publicly acknowledged that he is gay.[18]
Filmography
[edit]Writer
[edit]| Year | Show | Episode | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | ABC Afterschool Special | "Private Affairs" | Season 18, episode 2 |
| 1990 | China Beach | "Warriors" | Season 3, episode 16 |
| 1994 | ER | "Chicago Heat" | Story - season 1, episode 6 |
| "Blizzard" | Story - season 1, episode 10 | ||
| "The Gift" | Season 1, episode 11 | ||
| 1995 | "Full Moon, Saturday Night" | Season 1, episode 20 | |
| "Hell and High Water" | Season 2, episode 7 | ||
| 1996 | "The Match" | Season 2, episode 17 | |
| "Ghosts" | Season 3, episode 5 | ||
| "Ask Me No Questions, I'll Tell You No Lies" | Season 3, episode 9 | ||
| 1997 | "Whose Appy Now?" | Season 3, episode 14 | |
| "Calling Dr. Hathaway" | Story - Season 3, episode 19 | ||
| "Freak Show" | Season 4, episode 8 | ||
| 1998 | "Gut Reaction" | Season 4, episode 18 | |
| "Stuck on You" | Season 5, episode 6 | ||
| 1999 | "Middle of Nowhere" | Season 5, episode 16 | |
| "Humpty Dumpty" | Season 6, episode 7 | ||
| 2000 | "Under Control" | Season 6, episode 16 | |
| "Loose Ends" | Season 6, episode 20 | ||
| "Rescue Me" | Season 7, episode 7 | ||
| 2001 | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | "Scourge" | Season 2, episode 21 |
| "Rooftop" | Season 3, episode 4 | ||
| 2003 | "Control" | Season 5, episode 9 | |
| 2005 | "Storm" | Season 7, episode 10 | |
| 2007 | "Alternate" | Season 9, episode 1 | |
| 2008 | "Authority" | Season 9, episode 17 |
Director
[edit]| Year | Show | Episode | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | ABC Afterschool Special | "Private Affairs" | Season 18, episode 2 |
Producer
[edit]| Year | Film | Film Type |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | If You Build It | Documentary Film |
References
[edit]- ^ "Neal Baer Vs Gerrie Smith". Unicourt. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
- ^ "Neal Baer and Brandon Weiss's Wedding Website". Retrieved September 14, 2023.
- ^ "Neal Baer v. Brandon Weiss, NY State Court". Retrieved October 4, 2023.
- ^ Meyers, Lawrence (June 2, 2010). Inside the TV Writers' Room: Practical Advice for Succeeding in Television. Syracuse University Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-8156-3241-2.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Bios - Neal Baer, M.D. Executive Producer". NBC. 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
- ^ a b c d Noel Holston (2008). "Tate Center screening spotlights Peabody-winning "ER" and producer-doctor Neal Baer". The University of Georgia. Retrieved 2008-05-15.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Baer, N. (1998). "An Interview with Neal Baer, MD, the Doctor Behind ER". JAMA. 280 (9): 855. doi:10.1001/jama.280.9.855. PMID 9730002.
- ^ De, Monya. "The 5 TV Medical Myths That Drive Real-Life Doctors Crazy". livestrong.com. livestron. Retrieved October 5, 2016.
- ^ "Classic Concentration Episode 182". matrixwipe. 2000. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (November 23, 2010). "'Law & Order: SVU' Showrunner Neal Baer Signs Big Overall Deal With CBS TV Studios". Deadline Hollywood. Mail.com Media. Retrieved May 29, 2011.
- ^ "Neal Baer". IMDb. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- ^ "Cherry, Baer, and Truly are exec producing and writing the pilot of Cheerleader Death Squad". IMDb. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- ^ Stanhope, Kate (10 Feb 2017). "Medical Drama From 'ER' Grad Neal Baer Lands Fox Pilot Order". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 21 Feb 2017.
- ^ Andreeva, Nellie (5 September 2018). "'Designated Survivor' Saved With Netflix Pickup After ABC Cancellation; Season 3 Of eOne Series To Tackle Fake News". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- ^ "If You Build It". IMDb.com. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
- ^ "Neal Baer". The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
- ^ "TV writer Neal Baer buys former home of nuclear strategists for $4.35 million". Los Angeles Times. 3 August 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
- ^ Baer, Neal (2014-07-07). "'The Gay-friendliest Writer in Television' Comes Out in His 50s". HuffingtonPost. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
External links
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Neal Baer.
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Neal Baer
View on Grokipediafrom Grokipedia
Early Life and Education
Upbringing and Family Influences
Neal Baer was born in 1955 in Denver, Colorado, into a family deeply rooted in medicine and public involvement.[8] His father, Sylvan Baer, practiced as a surgeon, exposing young Neal to clinical environments from an early age; he often accompanied his father on hospital rounds, fostering an initial fascination with medicine.[4][9] Both of Baer's brothers followed their father into surgical careers, creating a household dynamic that emphasized medical professionalism and discipline.[4][10] Baer's mother, Arlette Jean Goldberg, contributed a contrasting influence through her active participation in political affairs, which highlighted the value of social and civic engagement alongside professional pursuits.[8] This blend of familial medical rigor and broader societal awareness shaped Baer's worldview, though he initially diverged from the expected surgical path by pursuing film studies, reflecting a rebellion against the dominant family trajectory in healthcare.[11] Despite this early deviation, the medical heritage proved enduring, informing his later integration of clinical expertise into narrative work.[4]Academic and Medical Training
Baer earned a Master of Education degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1979, followed by a Master of Arts in sociology from Harvard University in 1982.[2] These degrees preceded his entry into medical training, reflecting an early interdisciplinary focus on education and social sciences.[2] He enrolled at Harvard Medical School in 1991 and graduated with an MD in 1996.[2] During this period, Baer balanced medical studies with emerging interests in media and storytelling, though his primary coursework emphasized clinical foundations in medicine.[7] Following medical school, Baer completed a one-year internship in pediatrics at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, where he received the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Scholarship for clinical excellence.[7] This training provided foundational pediatric experience, including hands-on patient care in areas such as child health and preventive medicine, before he transitioned toward media production while maintaining his medical credentials.[7] No evidence indicates completion of a full three-year pediatric residency, consistent with his subsequent career pivot.[4]Medical and Academic Career
Pediatric Practice and Clinical Work
Neal Baer graduated from Harvard Medical School and subsequently completed a pediatric internship at Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA).[7] During this period, he balanced clinical training with early contributions to television production, including work on ER.[12] He continued practicing pediatrics at CHLA for seven years, managing patient care concurrently with executive roles on ER and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.[13] Baer's clinical experience emphasized direct patient interaction in a high-volume pediatric setting, where he handled routine and acute cases typical of a major children's hospital.[11] He drew from these encounters, including time at the Venice Family Clinic—the nation's largest free clinic—to inform narratives on medical and social issues in his media work, though his practice remained focused on pediatric diagnostics, treatment, and family counseling rather than specialized subspecialties.[14] In recognition of related research interests, Baer received the Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Scholars Award for Schizophrenia Research from the National Institute of Mental Health, highlighting an early focus on mental health aspects within pediatrics.[7] Beyond domestic practice, Baer extended his clinical efforts internationally, traveling to Mozambique in August 2007 to provide care and support for pediatric patients amid humanitarian challenges.[15] He has maintained an active pediatric license in California, with over 20 years of reported practice experience as of recent profiles, primarily in the Los Angeles area including Century City.[16] This dual commitment to clinical work and media underscores a career where hands-on pediatric medicine informed broader public health storytelling, without full-time specialization in research or academia during his primary practice years.[17]Teaching and Research Roles
Baer serves as a Lecturer on Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he co-directs the Master of Science program in Media, Medicine, and Health, focusing on the intersection of media storytelling and public health education.[7][18] He developed this program to train professionals in using narrative techniques for health communication, drawing from his dual expertise in pediatrics and television production.[4] At the Yale School of Public Health, Baer holds a lecturing position in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, emphasizing media's role in shaping public perceptions of health issues such as chronic illnesses and preventive strategies.[2][19] Previously, as a Research Scientist starting in 2013 at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health, he contributed to studies on media influence in health outcomes, later advancing to an adjunct professor role there.[20][3] Baer was appointed Clinical Professor of Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine, where he founded the Global Media Center to explore how visual media can advance preventive health initiatives globally.[7] He also maintains a Senior Fellow position at USC's Annenberg School of Journalism, supporting research into journalism's impact on health policy and public understanding of medical topics.[2] These roles integrate his clinical background with analyses of media's causal effects on health behaviors, though empirical outputs prioritize program development over traditional peer-reviewed pediatric research publications.[12]Television and Production Career
Entry into Scriptwriting
Baer entered television scriptwriting in the late 1980s, leveraging his background in medicine and directing to create content focused on ethical and personal dilemmas. After earning a Master of Fine Arts in directing from the American Film Institute in 1988, he co-wrote and directed his first network production, the ABC Afterschool Special episode "Private Affairs," which aired on January 11, 1989.[12] [21] The program depicted a teenage girl confronting her father's extramarital affair and its emotional consequences, earning recognition from the Association of Women in Film and Television for addressing complex family dynamics.[7] His breakthrough came through a personal connection with childhood friend and producer John Wells, who hired him as a freelance writer for the ABC series China Beach, a drama about nurses during the Vietnam War.[22] Baer co-wrote the 1990 episode "Warriors," which explored moral quandaries in combat medicine, such as saving a soldier destined for permanent brain damage; the script received a Writers Guild of America nomination for best episodic drama.[23] [7] This work marked his transition from educational specials to primetime narrative television, blending medical realism with dramatic storytelling derived from his clinical interests.[12] These early credits established Baer as a writer capable of integrating authentic medical scenarios into engaging plots, paving the way for his involvement in higher-profile series. His approach emphasized narrative medicine, using scripts to illuminate real-world health and ethical issues without sensationalism.[24]Role on ER
Neal Baer joined the production team of the NBC medical drama ER as a staff writer for its first season in 1994, drawing on his medical training to contribute scripts and inform storylines with clinical authenticity.[7] His background as a pediatric resident enabled him to devise medical narratives for episodes across the initial seasons, ensuring procedural details aligned with real hospital practices.[12] Baer wrote or co-wrote approximately 19 episodes through the seventh season, including acclaimed installments such as "Hell and High Water" (season 2, episode 7, aired November 9, 1995) and "Whose Appy Now?" (season 3, episode 4, aired October 17, 1996).[12] [7] Baer's production responsibilities expanded progressively: he served as co-producer for season 3 (1996–1997), producer for season 4 (1997–1998), supervising producer for season 5 (1998–1999), and co-executive producer for season 6 (1999–2000).[25] As a key figure in the original writing staff, he helped foster a commitment to medical accuracy, consulting on diagnostics, treatments, and emergency room dynamics to distinguish ER from less rigorous predecessors in the genre.[23] This emphasis contributed to the series' critical acclaim, including its Peabody Award in 1995 and multiple Emmy wins for Outstanding Drama Series.[7] During his seven-season tenure ending in 2001, Baer shared in five Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series as a producer, alongside individual nods for his writing on the aforementioned episodes—"Hell and High Water" earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series, while "Whose Appy Now?" received both an Emmy and a Writers Guild of America nomination.[7] [23] His departure followed the seventh season to assume the executive producer role on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.[6] Baer's integration of empirical medical knowledge not only elevated narrative realism but also influenced public perceptions of healthcare, as evidenced by the show's sustained viewership peaks, averaging over 20 million viewers per episode in early seasons.[12]Showrunning Law & Order: SVU
Neal Baer joined Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) as executive producer starting with the second season's premiere episode "Taken," aired on October 20, 2000, and served in that role through the conclusion of the twelfth season on May 18, 2011.[26] In this capacity, he functioned as showrunner, overseeing all production and writing aspects of the series, which maintained an annual budget exceeding $100 million during his tenure.[7] Baer's pediatric medical background informed the show's depiction of sexual assault cases, particularly those involving child victims, emphasizing procedural accuracy in medical examinations, psychological trauma, and forensic evidence handling.[4] Under Baer's leadership, SVU achieved significant viewership stability and critical recognition, averaging 14-15 million weekly viewers in early seasons and earning multiple Emmy nominations for outstanding drama series.[2] The series secured six Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globes for best drama series during his 11-season run, reflecting the procedural's evolution into a platform for exploring real-world issues like human trafficking, domestic violence, and victim advocacy without sensationalizing core investigative elements.[6] Baer contributed to story development by integrating evidence-based narratives drawn from consultations with law enforcement, medical experts, and survivor accounts, ensuring episodes balanced entertainment with educational value on topics such as STD transmission in abuse cases and the long-term effects of trauma.[27] Baer's showrunning emphasized collaborative writing rooms that prioritized factual grounding over dramatic exaggeration, leading to episodes like season 12's "Wet" (aired September 28, 2010), which addressed cyberbullying and teen suicide through a lens of parental responsibility and digital forensics.[28] He departed after the twelfth season to pursue other projects, including work on Prime Suspect, leaving the series as NBC's longest-running primetime drama at that point.[7] His tenure solidified SVU's format as a benchmark for crime procedurals, with a focus on detective-led resolutions informed by interdisciplinary expertise rather than unresolved social commentary.[4]Later Productions and Developments
Following his tenure as showrunner on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit through its twelfth season, which concluded in May 2011, Neal Baer transitioned to executive producing and showrunning the CBS science fiction series Under the Dome, adapted from Stephen King's novel and airing from June 2013 to September 2015 across three seasons.[29] During this period, Baer renewed his overall deal with CBS Television Studios in October 2013, enabling him to develop new projects alongside his work on the series, including the drama pilot The Three Behrs.[29] The show averaged 7-8 million viewers in its first season but saw declining ratings thereafter, concluding after its third season.[30] In July 2016, Baer signed a two-year pod deal with 20th Century Fox Television via his banner Baer Bones Productions, focusing on developing scripted content.[31] [32] Under this agreement, he co-wrote and pitched The Beast, a medical drama script acquired by Fox in November 2016, centering on high-stakes healthcare scenarios informed by Baer's clinical background.[33] He also developed The Beautiful Bureaucrat, a thriller drama put into production by The CW in November 2015 with co-executive producer Alexandra McNally, though it did not proceed to series.[34] Baer subsequently served as executive producer and showrunner for the third and final season of Netflix's political thriller Designated Survivor, starring Kiefer Sutherland, which premiered globally on June 7, 2019, and addressed themes of governmental ethics and conspiracy.[7] [2] The season incorporated new cast members and emphasized character-driven ethical dilemmas, aligning with Baer's prior experience in procedural dramas.[30] Beyond scripted television, Baer executive produced the documentary Welcome to Chechnya (2020), which documented the persecution of LGBTQ individuals in Chechnya using deepfake technology for anonymity; the film premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, earning a Special Jury Award for Editing.[2] He also contributed to the 2013 documentary If You Build It, focusing on education reform through design thinking in rural schools.[22] These projects reflect Baer's shift toward documentary and socially impactful content in later years, alongside unproduced pilots like Outreach for The WB Network and the feature film The Doctor Corps for Twentieth Century Fox.[7]Advocacy, Policy Influence, and Writings
Public Health and Media Advocacy
Neal Baer has served as co-chair of Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S), a program of the USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center established in 2002, which collaborates with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Writers Guild of America West (WGAw), and entertainment industry professionals to provide accurate health information for storylines in film and television.[23][35] The initiative aims to enhance public understanding of health topics by ensuring depictions reflect evidence-based medicine, with a 2004 Harvard study indicating that series like Law & Order: SVU serve as primary sources of health information for many Americans.[23] Through his television production roles, Baer integrated public health themes into narratives, including early depictions of HIV/AIDS, queer experiences, gun violence, obesity, domestic violence, and substance abuse, drawing from his pediatric expertise to promote medical realism.[6][36] His 1984 ABC special Private Affairs, addressing adolescent issues such as peer pressure and family dynamics, received the Association of Women in Film and Television's award for Best Children’s Drama.[23] Baer extended his advocacy internationally, working since 2006 in South Africa and Mozambique to teach photography to HIV-positive mothers and AIDS orphans, enabling them to document their experiences for global awareness.[37] As a mentor with BYkids, he guided youth filmmakers, including 16-year-old AIDS orphan Alcides Soares in producing the 2010 documentary Home Is Where You Find It, which chronicles life amid Mozambique's AIDS crisis and efforts to rebuild family structures.[15][38] As co-director of Harvard Medical School's Master of Science program in Media, Medicine, and Health, Baer lectures on leveraging entertainment media for social impact in global health contexts.[7][39]Policy Contributions and Debates
Neal Baer has contributed to health policy through leadership in media-driven advocacy initiatives aimed at informing public understanding and legislative discussions on medical issues. As co-chair of Hollywood, Health, and Society—a program supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—Baer has facilitated collaborations between entertainment industry professionals and public health experts to incorporate accurate depictions of health topics, such as infectious diseases and adolescent health, into television and film narratives.[2] This effort seeks to influence policy by elevating awareness; for instance, a Kaiser Family Foundation survey of over 1,200 ER viewers found that exposure to the show's storylines increased knowledge of health policy topics like emergency care access and patient rights, with 42% of respondents reporting changed views on medical ethics.[40] Baer established the Global Media Center for Social Impact at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health, focusing on leveraging digital and visual media to advance global health campaigns, including HIV/AIDS education in sub-Saharan Africa through community photography projects.[7] He also co-founded the Institute for Photographic Empowerment at USC's Annenberg School of Communications, which connects visual storytelling by marginalized groups to policymakers and NGOs, as demonstrated in initiatives aiding HIV-affected communities in South Africa and Mozambique.[7] Through board service on organizations like RAND Health (2000–2011), Venice Family Clinic (2000–2010), and Physicians for Social Responsibility, Baer has influenced policy on topics ranging from free clinic expansion to nuclear disarmament's health implications, though these roles emphasize advisory input rather than direct legislation.[2] In biotechnology policy, Baer edited The Promise and Peril of CRISPR (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024), compiling essays from bioethicists, philosophers, and geneticists that debate the technology's therapeutic potential—such as editing genes to cure sickle cell disease in children—against risks including unintended mutations, accessibility inequities, and eugenics revival.[41] Baer has argued in public forums that while CRISPR offers "cures for sick kids," safeguards are needed to prevent designer babies or enhancement-driven disparities, questioning societal thresholds for "playing God" without presuming moral absolutes.[42] These discussions highlight tensions between rapid innovation and regulatory caution; for example, Baer references historical debates on releasing Ebola genomic data during the Obama administration to underscore balancing scientific openness with biosecurity.[43] Critics of expansive gene editing, as engaged in the volume, warn of "CRISPR-driven eugenics," while proponents, including some contributors, prioritize somatic therapies over germline changes, with Baer advocating interdisciplinary policy frameworks to mitigate dual-use perils.[44] No major controversies have arisen from Baer's positions, which maintain a pragmatic focus on evidence-based guardrails amid academic and ethical divides.[45]Key Publications
Neal Baer co-authored the forensic thriller Kill Switch, the first installment in the Claire Waters series featuring a psychiatrist protagonist, with television writer Jonathan Greene; it was published by Kensington Books on January 31, 2012.[46] The sequel, Kill Again, continuing the series' narrative of psychological and criminal intrigue, followed in 2014, also co-authored with Greene.[7] In the realm of public health and bioethics, Baer edited The Promise and Peril of CRISPR, a collection of eight revised essays and seven new contributions examining the gene-editing technology's scientific potential, ethical challenges, and societal risks; the volume serves as a resource for students, scientists, physicians, and policymakers. Baer's scholarly output includes peer-reviewed articles such as "In Defense of Documentary Cameras—Reply," addressing methodological debates in medical filming, published in connection with his clinical and research background at institutions like UCLA.[47] Additionally, he contributed "Science Is Just Another Opinion: Making Medical Stories Credible on Fictional Television," which explores strategies for integrating accurate public health messaging into entertainment media, reflecting his dual expertise in medicine and storytelling.[48] These works underscore his efforts to bridge narrative fiction with evidence-based advocacy on health topics.Personal Life
Family and Private Interests
Neal Baer was married to Gerrie Smith until their divorce on October 10, 2013; the couple has one son, Caleb Raphael Baer, a recent graduate of Williams College.[49][50][1] Baer publicly came out as gay in July 2014 at the age of 56, recounting in a personal essay how he informed his son of his sexual orientation after decades of remaining closeted.[50] He married physician Brandon Weiss on June 18, 2022, in New York City.[49][51] Baer resides in Los Angeles, where he maintains a private life centered on family and personal pursuits beyond his professional career.[5] Among his private interests, Baer is an avid collector of queer art, with a particular focus on works by gay male artists from the early AIDS crisis era; his collection emphasizes pieces that document the period's cultural and personal impacts.[52][53] This avocation reflects his longstanding engagement with LGBTQ+ history, though it remains distinct from his public advocacy efforts. No other prominent hobbies or recreational activities are publicly documented.Political Views and Engagements
Neal Baer has primarily supported Democratic candidates through political donations. Federal Election Commission records indicate he contributed $1,000 to the campaign of Mondaire Jones, a Democratic congressional candidate, between January and June of an unspecified year prior to 2020.[54] In the 2020 election cycle, Baer's total political contributions amounted to $28,800, directed toward Democratic recipients including Mondaire for Congress.[55] Baer's engagements extend to advocacy on issues such as gun violence prevention, HIV/AIDS awareness, and public health policy, which align with progressive priorities often championed by Democratic platforms, though he has not publicly articulated explicit partisan endorsements or ideological statements in available records.[6] His production work, including episodes addressing social challenges like environmental health risks and domestic violence, reflects a focus on narratives that promote awareness of these topics without overt political framing.[56] No documented contributions to Republican candidates or conservative causes were identified in public campaign finance data.[57]Reception and Legacy
Awards and Recognitions
Neal Baer received two Primetime Emmy nominations for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for episodes of ER: "Hell and High Water?" in 1996 and "Whose Appy Now?" in 1997, the latter also earning a nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series shared with others.[7] As a producer on ER, Baer shared five Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series across its seasons.[23] For Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, where Baer served as executive producer and showrunner for eleven seasons, the series garnered six Emmy Awards during his tenure, including wins attributed to the production team he led; it also received a Golden Globe for acting.[6] Under Baer's leadership, SVU won the SHINE Award for Special Individual Achievement in 2003, recognizing positive portrayals of children and families.[58] The series further earned the People's Choice Award, Prism Award for accurate depiction of mental health and substance use, Edgar Award for mystery writing, Sentinel for Health Award, and Media Access Award during this period.[7] [5] Baer personally received the Special Individual Achievement Award from the Media Project for his contributions to children's issues in media.[59] In 2003, he was honored by Physicians for Social Responsibility, Lupus L.A., and the Media Project for his advocacy integrating medicine and storytelling.[60] Additional recognitions include the Leadership Award from the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS) and the Loop Award from Lupus L.A. for advancing awareness of lupus through media.[59] In acknowledgment of his broader service to the Writers Guild of America, Baer was awarded the Valentine Davies Award, highlighting his efforts in promoting medical accuracy and social issues in television while supporting guild initiatives.[23] For the HBO documentary The Promise and Peril of CRISPR, which Baer produced and which premiered in June 2020, he shared in the Peabody Award win for distinguished achievement in electronic media.[7] In 2023, Harvard Medical School presented Baer with its Distinguished Service Award to alumni, recognizing his career bridging medicine, media, and public health policy.[61] Baer also received a 2016 Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Digital Daytime Drama Series as executive producer of Eastsiders.[58]Critical Assessments and Controversies
Baer's oversight of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) from 2000 to 2010 has elicited criticism for the series' formulaic structure and unrealistic portrayal of the criminal justice system, particularly its near-perfect conviction rates for sexual assault cases, which contrast sharply with empirical data showing U.S. rape conviction rates below 1% for reported incidents.[62] This approach, while effective for episodic tension, has been faulted by legal analysts for fostering public overconfidence in prosecutorial outcomes and underemphasizing systemic barriers like evidence backlogs and victim reticence.[63] Episodes under Baer's showrunning that tackled transgender youth issues, such as the 2009 installment exploring prepubescent gender identity and hormone access, sparked debate over media's role in normalizing medical interventions amid limited long-term outcome data at the time.[64] Baer defended these narratives as reflective of emerging clinical discussions, yet detractors argued they risked oversimplifying complex developmental psychology and ethical concerns around consent and irreversibility in minors, aligning with broader critiques of entertainment-driven policy influence.[65] On ER, Baer's producing contributions faced scrutiny for prioritizing dramatic pacing over medical fidelity, as he conceded in interviews that procedural shortcuts—such as exaggerated CPR success rates (depicted at over 50% in early seasons versus real-world figures under 10% for out-of-hospital cases)—served narrative needs despite consultations with physicians.[66] 00025-4/fulltext) This tension highlighted institutional tensions in Hollywood medicine portrayals, where Baer's dual role as pediatrician and producer aimed to educate but often amplified heroic tropes, potentially skewing viewer expectations of emergency care efficacy.[11] Baer's media advocacy, including scripts promoting COVID-19 vaccination accuracy across shows, has been assessed as advancing public health consensus but critiqued by skeptics for embedding institutional narratives without sufficient counterbalance to emerging data on side effects or efficacy variances, reflecting broader concerns over entertainment's alignment with prevailing expert opinion amid polarized debates.[67] No major personal scandals have been substantiated in reputable reporting, though unverified workplace conduct allegations surfaced in online forums without corroboration from investigations or outlets like Variety.[68]Filmography
Writing Credits
Neal Baer began his television writing career as a freelance writer on the ABC drama China Beach (1988–1991), co-writing the 1990 episode "Warriors," which earned a Writers Guild of America nomination for best episodic drama.[23][7] Baer joined the original writing staff of NBC's ER (1994–2009) as a staff writer for its debut season, leveraging his medical background during his internship. He received credit as writer on 13 episodes spanning 1994 to 2000, including early installments such as "Chicago Heat," "Blizzard," and "The Gift," as well as the 1997 episode "Whose Appy Now?," which garnered a Writers Guild of America nomination.[69][22] On Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999–present), where Baer served as executive producer and showrunner starting in season 2 through season 12, he contributed as writer on select episodes, including "Storm" (season 7, 2005), "Alternate" (season 9, 2007), and "Authority" (season 9, 2008); he also received story credit for "Scourge" (season 2, 2000).[26][22] Baer's later writing credits include the episode "Cheerleader Death Squad" for CBS's Under the Dome (2013).[22]Producing Credits
Neal Baer began his producing career as part of the original staff on the NBC medical drama ER, where he served as a producer and executive producer, contributing to the series from its 1994 premiere through much of its run until 2009.[2][7] He joined Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as executive producer starting with its second season in 2000, holding the role for eleven seasons until 2011 and also functioning as showrunner during that period, during which the series garnered multiple Emmy nominations.[5][59] Baer subsequently executive produced the CBS supernatural drama A Gifted Man across its single season from 2011 to 2012.[59] He then served as executive producer and showrunner for the first three seasons of the CBS adaptation Under the Dome from 2013 to 2015.[59] In 2018, Baer returned to producing as executive producer and showrunner for the third season of the political thriller Designated Survivor on Netflix.[7]| Series | Role | Years |
|---|---|---|
| ER | Executive Producer | 1994–2009[2] |
| Law & Order: SVU | Executive Producer, Showrunner | 2000–2011[5] |
| A Gifted Man | Executive Producer | 2011–2012[59] |
| Under the Dome | Executive Producer, Showrunner | 2013–2015[59] |
| Designated Survivor (Season 3) | Executive Producer, Showrunner | 2018[7] |