Abstract
Dr. Pinckard was appointed as the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of Academic Forensic Pathology during its conception and origins in October of 2009, and he has been an integral component in the development of the Journal and its growth over its first four years of publication. He is a board-certified anatomic, clinical, and forensic pathologist, an American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators (ABMDI) board-certified death investigator, and is the Chief Medical Examiner of Travis County (Austin, TX).
Dr. Pinckard began his career in basic science research, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Arizona in 1990. He was then accepted into the Medical Scientist Training Program at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. It was during the graduate portion of his training that he became heavily involved with peer review and critical appraisal of the literature for several high-impact journals, and this quickly became one of his special areas of interest. His PhD was in Immunology and focused on tumor necrosis factor and tumor necrosis factor receptor interactions. He graduated with his MD and PhD degrees in 1998. Dr. Pinckard completed his residency in anatomic and clinical pathology in 2002 at Washington University School of Medicine/Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He undertook his forensic pathology fellowship in 2002-2003 with Dr. Michael Graham at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine and the St. Louis Office of the Medical Examiner, spent a decade as a medical examiner at the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas, Texas, and then served as the Deputy Chief Medical Investigator for the University of New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator prior to beginning his current position in Austin.
Dr. Pinckard has authored numerous articles in basic science as well as forensic pathology. His interest in transplantation led him to become a medical examiner faculty member of the Organ Donation Breakthrough Collaborative of the U.S. Health and Human Services Administration and he co-authored both National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) position papers on the medical examiner release of organs and tissues for transplantation (2007 and 2014). Dr. Pinckard is a Fellow of NAME, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS), ABMDI, and the College of American Pathologists and has chaired or been a member of numerous committees within those organizations. He served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Forensic Sciences between 2006 and early 2011. He currently sits on the NAME Board of Directors and has previously served as the Program Chair, Secretary, and Section Chair of the Pathology/Biology Section of AAFS. He sat on the Executive Committee of the Scientific Working Group for Medicolegal Death Investigation and after its transition is currently the Vice-Chair of the Organization of Scientific Area Committees Medical/Legal Death Investigation Subcommittee.