Morehouse launches first HBCU forensic pathology fellowship with DeKalb County

The DeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office has partnered with Morehouse School of Medicine to launch the nation's first forensic pathology fellowship program at a historically Black college or university.

The medical examiner's office says the program aims to address the nationwide shortage of board-certified forensic pathologists and increase diversity in the field.

Dr. Gerald Gowitt, DeKalb County's chief medical examiner and the fellowship program's director, said the United States has about 700 forensic pathologists but needs approximately 1,500 to adequately staff medical examiners' and coroners' offices across the country.

Dr. Oluwaseun Ogunbona is the first and only fellow in the inaugural program. He is receiving hands-on training in death investigations and forensic autopsies.

"I've always wanted to do a forensic pathology fellowship," Ogunbona said.

Gowitt leads classroom and laboratory training at the DeKalb County Medical Examiner's Office. During one lesson, he explained how blood collected during an autopsy is sent for toxicology testing for alcohol and drugs.

In another lesson, Gowitt explained how X-rays help forensic pathologists find bullets inside a body before an examination.

"It is incumbent upon Dr. Ogunbona to do the examination, describe the wound and then retrieve the bullet from wherever it is," Gowitt said. "The purpose of the X-ray is to determine where the bullet is located in the body and how many bullets are in the body."

Ogunbona is from Lagos, Nigeria. Before beginning the one-year fellowship, he worked in Texas as a neuropathologist, a doctor who diagnoses diseases affecting the nervous system.

"I'm hoping to become a medical examiner and be a forensic neuropathologist," Ogunbona said.