The connecticut office of the chief medical examiner is seeking to help increase the number of practicing forensic pathologists (FPS) in the united states

The Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance awarded the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner $300,000 on October 1, 2025, under the Strengthening the Medical Examiner-Coroner System program (CFDA 16.037) to recruit and train two forensic pathology fellows through September 30, 2028.

The office will deliver forensic pathology fellowship training at its Farmington, Connecticut location, designed to prepare fellows for board certification and entry into the federal and state death-investigation workforce. Training occurs within an ACGME-accredited program staffed by eleven board-certified forensic pathologists, seventeen board-certified medicolegal death investigators, a forensic anthropologist, and specialized cardiac and neuropathology consultants. The office coordinates partnerships with Connecticut's pathology residency programs, state crime laboratories, toxicology services, and regional medical schools. Fellows will receive instruction in best practices for medicolegal death investigation, including autopsy with toxicology, and will be evaluated through regular feedback using standard performance measures. The program addresses a nationwide shortage of board-certified forensic pathologists and supports law enforcement operations in investigations of suspected injury deaths, homicides, child abuse, drug trafficking, and sexual assault cases.

We will do this by training two forensic pathology fellows at the connecticut office of the chief medical examiner. This is necessary because there is a nationwide shortage of forensic pathologists. FPS advance public safety and directly support law enforcement operations in the combat against violent crime by investigating all suspected injury deaths including those from child abuse, homicides, drug trafficking, and sexual assault; performing autopsies with toxicology; sharing information with law enforcement agencies; and providing expert testimony in court. This training will take place at the office of the chief medical examiner which performs all medicolegal death investigations for connecticut. The project will serve the fellows by providing excellent forensic pathology training; connecticut will benefit from the fellows work, and the country will benefit by having more board-certified FPS in the workforce. The activities to complete the project are to recruit and train two fellows, offering exceptional training at this name-accredited office with a faculty of eleven board-certified FPS, 17 board-certified medicolegal death investigators, a forensic anthropologist, and specialized cardiac and neuropathology consultants. Strong partnerships include with an accredited forensic toxicology, the state crime lab and scene teams, and all the medical schools and pathology residency programs in the state. Fellows will be taught best practices in preparation for board certification and fulltime work. Their progress will be closely monitored through regular feedback using standard performance measures. The deliverables and expected outcomes are to recruit, hire, and prepare fellows to be high-quality, well-trained, board-eligible forensic pathologists.