Abstract
The Future of Forensic Pathology Research
As forensic pathologists, we largely practice in government settings. Our days are spent investigating jurisdictional deaths, performing autopsies, interacting with law enforcement, criminal justice and public health officials and perhaps teaching residents and fellows. Few of us focus on research.
In 2003, I was asked to speak about research issues in forensic pathology at an Institute of Medicine workshop on the medicolegal death investigative system. At that time, I had a rather pessimistic view. I indicated that only about 10% of medical schools in the United States had full-time (non-adjunct) forensic pathology faculty members. Of these schools, only a few prioritized research by these faculty members. Forensic pathology fellowship programs rarely provided research training. Scant federal funds were available to sponsor forensic pathology research. In the absence of research related jobs, support, training and funding, I concluded that we shouldn't be surprised that the forensic pathology literature was anemic.
Over time, I have become more optimistic. What has changed since 2003? The National Academy of Sciences, in 2009, also voiced the perspective that forensic pathology research was limited and needed improvement. In 2010, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) held a symposium on the medicolegal death investigative system including a session focused on research issues. In addition, NIJ has issued several solicitations for research proposals in the arena of medicolegal death investigation and forensic pathology. I was encouraged to learn that many forensic pa-thologists submitted proposals and several were funded. Currently, the US Senate is developing legislation (Criminal Justice and Forensic Science Reform Act of 2011) that will provide a coherent approach to and increased funding for research in forensic science.
Like the practice of other medical specialties, the practice of forensic pathology should be evidence based. Our medicolegal opinions should be undergirded not just by our training and our experience but also by an understanding of a robust scientific literature and how it applies to our cases. Controversial areas such as pediatric head trauma, the pathologic effects of electrical control devices, the role of genomics in interpreting potential poisoning deaths, and the utility of advanced imaging technology will not be resolved through debate on a listserv. These topics and others will require careful and systematic research efforts to achieve clarity. These research efforts will need to be led or supported by forensic pathologists. In recent years, scientific investigations have shifted from solo investigators or groups of investigators from the same discipline to multidisciplinary teams. In addition to the increased complexity of the research that can be conducted, multidisciplinary research teams can provide research training and mentoring for forensic pathologists with limited research experience who are eager to engage in scientific investigations.
I am pleased by the early focus of this journal on Research in Forensic Pathology as the topic for this issue and I have been delighted to serve as the guest editor. Several of our colleagues have contributed manuscripts that focus on different aspects of research in forensic pathology. These articles, while not a stand-alone roadmap to performing research, nevertheless provide a sample of the different and unique aspects of research in forensic pathology. It is our hope that this collection of articles will serve as a reminder of the importance of scholarship in our discipline, as a prompt to those of you who might have an inclination to become more involved in research, and as a useful set of references to those of you who are already researchers.
