Marion County Coroner’s Office uses BJA fellowship funding to support the training of a Forensic Pathology Fellow to increase operational capacity

The Marion County Coroner’s Office has a unique fellowship program through their partnership with Indiana University School of Medicine which significantly enhances the education, training, and experience of forensic pathologists. This partnership is being utilized to develop a pipeline of future forensic pathologists by encouraging undergraduate and medical students to consider the area of forensic pathology as they make career decisions. Marion County’s efforts are critical to addressing the national shortage of forensic pathologists by not only focusing on training fellows, but also recruiting students into the field. Furthermore, Marion County Coroner’s Office is the only county in Indiana that has an accredited forensic fellowship program. The Marion County Coroner’s Office was awarded funds through the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) Strengthening the Medical Examiner-Coroner System (ME/C) Program to support the training of a forensic pathology fellow in their office. The office was awarded BJA fellowship funding at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. COVID significantly impacted the case load and the office’s ability to conduct investigations, creating a challenge for the office’s operation. During that time county death investigations increased, and the office lost several critical staff including pathologists and investigators. Internally, the office also faced a lack of funding from the county to keep up with staffing needed to adequately conduct death investigations. The BJA funded fellow performed 250 autopsies, which greatly assisted the staff forensic pathologists with the increased autopsy case load. The fellow graduated the program, became board certified, and now works in a Coroner’s Office in Ohio.