Overview
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) for Washington, DC, in conjunction with the George Washington University Office of Graduate Medical Education, offers a one-year fellowship in Forensic Pathology. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) fully credits the program. The fellow will operate under the supervision of the OCME’s board-certified staff pathologists and complete between 200 and 250 autopsies and postmortem examinations.
The OCME has its own dedicated transport service, ABMDI (American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators) certified investigators, an identification unit, an ABFA (American Board of Forensic Anthropology) certified forensic anthropologist, and forensic photographers. The OCME conducts approximately 1000 full autopsies per year in its state-of-the-art facility. See the most recent completed annual report here. The American Board of Forensic Toxicology fully accredits the forensic toxicology laboratory.
Fellow responsibilities include completing rotations through the various OCME services and managing their caseload. Training will also include didactics to concentrate on more common subjects, including gunshot wound injuries, fire-related deaths, blunt and sharp force injuries, infant and child deaths, and courtroom testimony. The fellow will also take calls with investigators and attend death scenes. The fellowship includes a rotation through the Department of Forensic Sciences. Consultations and additional sign out in neuropathology and cardiac pathology are available, and scholarly activity with national and local conference presentations is required. The OCME also participates in various fatality review conferences, which the fellow will be able to attend.
Information for Applicants
Applicants must have completed AP or AP/CP post-graduate year three and be eligible for medical licensure in the District of Columbia.
Applicants should send a copy of their personal statement, including interest and goals, their CV, and three letters of reference to the Residency Program Coordinator, Terencia Davenport, at terencia.davenport@dc.gov with the Common Application for Pathology Fellowships on the CAP website, here. Applications should be submitted before December 31st of the year preceding the fellowship start date. For example, 2025 to 2026 academic year applications should be submitted between the spring of 2023 and December 31st, 2023.
The OCME currently participates in the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP).
For more information, please email: ocme@dc.gov