2017 Paul Coverdell Formula Grant

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) is responsible for investigating those deaths of individuals occurring in the Commonwealth of Virginia from trauma or violence, when sudden and unexpected, while unattended by a physician, under suspicious circumstances or in the custody of law enforcement or other state or local authority.

OCME’s goal for this project is to increase the number of qualified forensic pathologists in Virginia and the United States, by training and certifying a forensic pathology fellow in the OCME to prepare them to take their Forensic Pathology Board examinations. The forensic pathology fellowship is a twelve month training program in which fellows learn how to perform forensic autopsies, evaluate death reports, scene investigation, and proper evidence handling. The fellows will learn photographic techniques used at death scenes and during an autopsy. They will also complete a one month rotation with the various units at the Virginia Department of Forensic Science. nca/ncf