Dr. Wendy Carr, played by Fringe alum Anna Torv, has one seriously kickass real-life counterpart in Dr. Ann Wolbert Burgess. In the 1970s, Burgess quickly became a trailblazer in research surrounding the treatment of trauma and abuse victims. She cofounded a hospital-based counselling program for rape victims at Boston City Hospital with sociologist Lynda Lytle Holmstrom, which was one of the first of its kind, and later the pair introduced the phrase "rape trauma syndrome" into the medical lexicon.
Like Wendy, Burgess worked with the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit to do landmark research into serial killers, helping to link their crimes to instances of past trauma. She worked closely with Agent Douglas, and together with Ressler they were able to write Sexual Homicide: Patterns and Motives (among other books).
Today, Burgess teaches at Boston College in the Connell School of Nursing, where her curriculum puts an emphasis on forensic science, forensic mental health, and victimology. In 2013 and 2016, she was deemed a living legend by the New England Chapter of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association, distinctions which joined a long list of other selected appointments and awards.