About

Scott J. Thompson is an award-winning screenwriter and the Director of Boston University’s undergraduate and graduate screenwriting programs. His work has been recognized by dozens of top international festivals. He began teaching screenwriting in Los Angeles while working as a development executive and story consultant for various production companies, including New Line Cinema, MTM Enterprises, and the Fred Silverman Company. With over 25 years of teaching experience, he has worked as a screenwriter for production companies in Los Angeles, Montreal, Germany, Helsinki, New York, and Boston. Thompson's adaptation of the memoir “Black Dog of Fate” by Pulitzer Prize winner Peter Balakian was nominated for Hollywood’s annual Black List. He was contracted to write a TV pilot based on Morgan Freeman’s experiences in the Delta blues scene. He has directed Emerson College’s Screenwriting Certificate Program and served as a Juror for the International Emmy’s Sir Peter Ustinov Award in Screenwriting. Additionally, he has served as a Narrative Programmer for the Slamdance Film Festival and a Judge for the Humanitas Prize. Currently, he is working on his fourth adaptation and developing a short film with his child, which has won first place at several international festivals and was ranked as the #1 Comedy Short of all-time on Coverfly’s Red List on the first day of principal photography.

Research topics

• Endocrinology
• Internal medicine
• Medicine
• Food science
• Environmental health
• Biochemistry
• Microbiology
• Obstetrics
• Biology

Selected publications

• Successes and setbacks - learning from two years of implementing a new integrated framework for community mental health in London

  International Journal of Integrated Care · 2025-04-09 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  The UK National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health and NHS England published a new national "Community Mental Health Framework" in September 2019 outlining a coproduced vision for a place-based community mental health, and how community services should modernise to offer whole-person, whole-population health approaches, aligned with primary care services and neighbourhoods. West London NHS Trust successfully bid to be a pilot site for the development of these services and, despite the parallel challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, progressed with major reconfiguration of our local mental health services, and receiving substantial additional investment. We radically redesigned our: - Single point of access - 3 small primary care mental health teams - 3 assessment services - 5 secondary care specialist 'recovery' teams into nine place-based Integrated Network Teams supporting a range of patients with common and complex mental health needs. The plans were coproduced with staff, local partners and informed by patients and carers, and implemented at scale. New investment and team structures were designed using population health approaches to address predicted need for the services rather than historical patterns of referral demand - with an acknowledgement that areas of high deprivation and certain populations may require alternative approaches to delivery. We developed new team structures and created new roles including rapidly expanding the role for Peer Support Workers (with lived-experience of mental illness), alongside contracted partnerships with community organisations, the relaunch of our Wellbeing and Recovery College and the relocation of two teams into local Premier League and Championships League football clubs. We describe our transformation experiences, including: - the challenges of changing culture and operating models whilst continuing to provide care for a caseload of 12,000 local people - clinical risks identified during the transition, and actions to ensure patients were not lost-to-follow-up and that caseload segmentation was introduced to support assertive approaches to clinical care delivery for the patients with most complex needs and highest risk - workforce challenges and efforts to attract and retain clinical staff to reduce vacancy rates in expanding teams - the benefits and challenges of migrating clinical activity from a secondary care to a shared primary-care clinical record system - actions to gain clear visibility of performance data - unforeseen challenges related to the Covid-19 pandemic and a backlog of need, and heightened awareness of mental health At November 2023, the services collectively increased in productivity from a mean of 1200 recorded clinical contacts per week to >2000; clinical caseloads stabilised, and routine referrals were seen in a median of 33 days against a target of 28 days. Adverse incidents were routinely monitored, including patient suicides and homicides, as well as complaints. Work with voluntary sector organisations in just one borough supported over 800 recipients of targeted wellbeing support, of whom 75%+ were from non-white ethnic backgrounds - these approaches went beyond the biomedical and psychological models to include community massage, movement and dance, and photojournalism. We share our learning others seeking to innovate in the integrated mental health space.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Child Preparedness for Infertility Disclosure: A Diagnostic Tool for Supporting Parent and Child Mental Health

  The Family Journal · 2024-10-16

  articleSenior author

  Infertility, often perceived as an adult issue, can also manifest in childhood, presenting unique challenges. Improper handling of infertility disclosures can strain parent–child relationships and potentially lead to significant psychological distress, including depression, anxiety, and long-term impacts on self-image. Despite the critical nature of these conversations, parents often report receiving little or no guidance from professionals on how or when to disclose this information to their child. This article introduces the Child Readiness for Infertility Disclosure (CRID) Assessment Tool, designed to empirically guide parents and marriage and family counselors in assessing a child's readiness for receiving information about infertility. The CRID tool integrates the concepts of Tiered Priming and Cognitive Preparedness strategies, providing structured recommendations grounded in Erickson's Stages of Psychosocial Development for age-appropriate and developmentally suitable disclosure along with an applied case study.

  PublisherDOI

• Dietary fiber intake and fecal short-chain fatty acid concentrations are associated with lower plasma lipopolysaccharide-binding protein and inflammation

  American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology · 2023-02-15 · 21 citations

  article

  Dietary fiber intake may reduce the inflammation associated with obesity and metabolic disease. Our cross-sectional analysis revealed that dietary fiber intake and fecal short-chain fatty acids are inversely associated with lipopolysaccharide-binding protein, a marker of systemic inflammation. In addition, plasma interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein were positively related to markers of adiposity.

  PublisherDOI

• Black Bean Pasta Meals with Varying Protein Concentrations Reduce Postprandial Glycemia and Insulinemia Similarly Compared to White Bread Control in Adults

  Foods · 2022-06-03 · 17 citations

  articleOpen access

  Postprandial glycemic and insulinemic effects of three black bean pastas were evaluated among eighteen normoglycemic adults (8 men, 10 women) in a randomized crossover trial. Black beans were milled into flour using a commercial Knife or compression/decompression mill (C/D mill). The C/D-mill-derived pastas had medium protein (Combo-MP) and low protein (Cyclone-LP) concentrations. Three black bean flour pastas (Knife, Combo-MP, and Cyclone-LP) were compared to two controls: white bread and whole black beans. Treatments contained 50 g of available carbohydrate. Plasma glucose, serum insulin, and appetite measures were collected at fasting and 30, 60, 90, 150, and 180 min postprandial. Gastrointestinal symptoms were evaluated 10-12 h postprandial. ANOVA (one-way, repeated measures) was used to evaluate satiety, gastrointestinal symptoms, sensory variables, glucose and insulin differences from baseline, and incremental area under the curve (iAUC) by time and/or treatment. Three-hour glucose and insulin iAUCs were lower with whole black beans than white bread. Black bean pasta meals increased satiety, reduced appetite, and produced numerically lower glucose and insulin responses than white bread. However, no differences were observed between pasta types, indicating a similar metabolic response regardless of milling technique. Our results provide evidence for dietary guidance to reduce postprandial glucose and related health risks through pulse food products.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Dietary lutein plus zeaxanthin and choline intake is interactively associated with cognitive flexibility in middle-adulthood in adults with overweight and obesity

  Nutritional Neuroscience · 2021-01-15 · 6 citations

  article

  BACKGROUND: The xanthophyll carotenoids lutein+zeaxanthin and the dietary component choline have been linked to benefits in cognition. However, knowledge on the interactive influence of these dietary components on cognitive function is sparse. DESIGN: 80 middle-aged adults with overweight and obesity (Body Mass Index: (BMI) ≥25.0 kg/m²), completed 7-day diet records, venous blood draws, heterochromatic flicker photometry, assessment of intelligence quotient (IQ), and a cognitive flexibility task while undergoing electroencephalographic recording for event-related potential (ERP) extraction. Multiplicative interaction terms and hierarchical linear regressions, controlling for age, BMI, sex, annual household income, and IQ were utilized to assess independent and interactive contributions of dietary and biomarker data on Switch task outcomes. RESULTS: Higher intake of lutein+zeaxanthin and choline was associated interactively, but not independently, with faster reaction time (RT), after controlling for pertinent covariates. Dietary intake of lutein+zeaxanthin and choline was associated with serum lutein concentrations, but not with plasma choline metabolites nor macular pigmentation. Plasma phosphatidylcholine (PC) concentrations were associated with higher accuracy in Switch trials, while no other biomarkers were associated with cognitive outcomes. Dietary intake and biomarker data were not related to the N2 nor P3 ERP component. CONCLUSIONS: Among a sample of adults with overweight and obesity, greater intake of choline and lutein+zeaxanthin was associated with faster performance on a cognitive flexibility task. Future work examining methods of increasing consumption of both of these dietary components as a possible means of improving or maintaining cognitive flexibility among adults with overweight and obesity is therefore warranted.

  PublisherDOI

• Systemic inflammation mediates the negative relationship between visceral adiposity and cognitive control

  International Journal of Psychophysiology · 2021-04-08 · 14 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• A Comparison of Safety, Health, and Well-Being Risk Factors Across Five Occupational Samples

  Frontiers in Public Health · 2021-02-05 · 14 citations

  articleOpen access

  Objective: The aim of this study was to present safety, health and well-being profiles of workers within five occupations: call center work ( N = 139), corrections ( N = 85), construction ( N = 348), homecare ( N = 149), and parks and recreation ( N = 178). Methods: Baseline data from the Data Repository of Oregon's Healthy Workforce Center were used. Measures were compared with clinical healthcare guidelines and national norms. Results: The prevalence of health and safety risks for adults was as follows: overweight (83.2%), high blood pressure (16.4%), injury causing lost work (9.9%), and reported pain (47.0%). Young workers were least likely to report adequate sleep (46.6%). Construction workers reported the highest rate of smoking (20.7%). All of the adult workers reported significantly lower general health than the general population. Conclusion: The number of workers experiencing poor safety, health and well-being outcomes suggest the need for improved working conditions.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Avocado Consumption, Abdominal Adiposity, and Oral Glucose Tolerance Among Persons with Overweight and Obesity

  Journal of Nutrition · 2021 · 21 citations

  • Medicine
  • Internal medicine
  • Endocrinology

  BACKGROUND: Although intake of Hass avocado has been cross-sectionally linked to lower abdominal obesity, knowledge of the effects of avocado consumption on abdominal adiposity and glycemic outcomes remains limited. OBJECTIVE: The effects of avocado consumption on abdominal adiposity, insulin resistance, oral-glucose-tolerance test (OGTT), and estimated β-cell function were evaluated. METHODS: A total of 105 adults aged 25-45 y (61% female) with BMI ≥25 kg/m2 were randomly assigned to an intervention (N = 53) that received a daily meal with 1 fresh Hass avocado or a control (N = 52) that received an isocaloric meal with similar ingredients without avocado for 12 wk. DXA was used to assess the primary outcomes of abdominal adiposity [visceral adipose tissue (VAT), subcutaneous abdominal adipose tissue (SAAT), and the ratio of VAT to SAAT (VS Ratio)]. Fasted glucose and insulin were used to assess the primary outcomes of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and insulin sensitivity (Matsuda index) and β-cell function (Insulinogenic index) were estimated using an OGTT. Changes between groups were compared using an ANCOVA. Secondary analyses were conducted based on sex. RESULTS: The control group exhibited a greater reduction in SAAT [-54.5 ± 155.8 g (control) compared with 17.4 ± 155.1 g (treatment), P = 0.017] and increase in VS Ratio [0.007 ± 0.047 (control) compared with -0.011 ± 0.044 (treatment), P = 0.024]. Among females, the treatment group exhibited a greater reduction in VAT [1.6 ± 89.8 g (control) compared with -32.9 ± 81.6 g (treatment), P = 0.021] and VS Ratio [0.01 ± 0.05 (control) compared with -0.01 ± 0.03 (treatment), P = 0.001]. Among males, there was no significant difference between groups in changes in abdominal adiposity or glycemic outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Daily consumption of 1 fresh Hass avocado changed abdominal adiposity distribution among females but did not facilitate improvements in peripheral insulin sensitivity or β-cell function among adults with overweight and obesity.This study was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02740439.

  PublisherDOI

• The Impact of Fresh Hass Avocado on the Fecal Metabolome Among Adults with Overweight and Obesity: A Randomized, Controlled Trial

  Current Developments in Nutrition · 2020-05-29

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Avocados are nutrient-rich fruits that have been recently linked to beneficial alterations to the gastrointestinal microbiota. However, previous research on shifts in the fecal metabolome with avocado intake has largely been conducted in in vitro or preclinical models and little is known about their metabolomic impact in human subjects. Adult participants (n = 109) 25–45 years of age with BMI ≥ 25.0 kg/m2 were enrolled in an investigator-blinded, parallel arm, randomized, controlled trial. Participants consumed isocaloric meals with or without fresh Hass avocado once daily for 12-weeks and reported ≥ 80% meal consumption over the intervention period. Untargeted fecal metabolites were quantified in a subsample of participants (n = 48) using gas chromatography mass spectroscopy and were normalized by sample weight. Kruskal-Wallis tests and false discovery rate type I error correction were conducted and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) was used to predict treatment group by fecal metabolite concentrations (RStudio, version 3.6.2). A total of 292 metabolites were identified at intervention follow-up. Of these, three metabolites differed significantly between treatment groups. Fecal concentrations of lanosterol (P = 0.0004, q = 0.04) and the fatty alcohols hexadecanol (P = 0.001, q = 0.04) and octadecanol (P = 0.001, q = 0.04), were greater in the group consuming avocado as compared to control. Seventeen additional metabolites, including nine fecal lipids, two fat soluble vitamin derivatives, and three monosaccharides/disaccharides differed at P < 0.05 but did not meet the q < 0.05 threshold. Treatment group assignment was predicted correctly in 70% of cases (R2 = 72%, Q2 = 33%) using the trained OPLS-DA model. Fresh Hass avocado intake increased fecal lipid and sterol concentrations among healthy adults with overweight and obesity, demonstrating diet-related modifications to the fecal metabolome. Support for this research was provided by the Hass Avocado Board, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Hatch project 1009249, and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture AFRI Predoctoral Fellowship, project 2018–07785.

  PublisherDOI

• Metformin in women with type 2 diabetes in pregnancy (MiTy): a multicentre, international, randomised, placebo-controlled trial

  The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology · 2020 · 224 citations

  • Medicine
  • Internal medicine
  • Obstetrics
  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• Hannah D. Holscher

  85 shared

• Naiman A. Khan

  76 shared

• Caitlyn G. Edwards

  Pennsylvania State University

  68 shared

• Nicholas A. Burd

  Goodwin College

  57 shared

• Ryan Olson

  49 shared

• Brad Wipfli

  Portland State University

  43 shared

• Diane L. Elliot

  Oregon Health & Science University

  40 shared

• William D. O’Brien

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  39 shared

Awards & honors

• Black List nomination for adaptation of 'Black Dog of Fate'