The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner (formerly the Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner and Department of Coroner) was created in its present form on December 17, 1920 by an ordinance approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, although it has existed in some form since the appointment of the first county coroner in 1850. It is headquartered in

Boyle Heights Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include: Disambiguation *Adam Boyle (disambiguation), ...

. On September 3, 2020, the

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Sessions as their firs ...

approved the name change for the department, from the Department of Coroner to the Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner. On July 9, 2010, the Board of Supervisors approved the appointment of Mark A. Fajardo, the Chief Forensic Pathologist at

Riverside County Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Uni ...

, as the new Medical Examiner-Coroner, at an annual salary of $275,000. He formally replaced Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran, who served 2 years as the Coroner, in August 2013. Dr. Mark Fajardo resigned in March 2016. A news report indicated that "he left because it became common to have up to 50 bodies waiting to be processed and the backlog of bodies was 'nuts'. ... and toxicology tests were taking six months to complete" due to inadequate staffing. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran was re-appointed, but as interim coroner, on April 11, 2016. Dr. Jonathan R. Lucas was appointed as the Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner on July 10, 2017. Dr. Lucas announced his intent to leave DMEC (The Department of Medical Examiner-Coroner) in September 2022. On November 4, 2022, Dr. Odey C. Ukpo, Medical Director of the Department, was sworn in as Interim Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner. Dr. Ukpo is the first African American to serve as Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner since the office was established in 1850. Dr. Ukpo joined the department in 2014 and served as a Senior Deputy Medical Examiner before being named Medical Director in June 2022. On March 7, 2023, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors appointed Ukpo as Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner.

List of Medical Examiners

* Alpheus P. Hodges (coroner): June 24, 1850 – 1851 * James Brown Winston (coroner): 1857 * Horace G. Cates (coroner): 1892 – 1896 *

Calvin Hartwell Calvin Hartwell (December 17, 1849 – May 19, 1920) was a Republican politician who served as a member of the Pasadena Board of Trustees from 1895 to 1898, Mayor of Pasadena, California from 1896 to 1898, Los Angeles County Assessor from 1906 ...

(coroner): 1908 – 1920 *

Theodore Curphey Theodore Joscelyn Curphey (October 25, 1897 – November 27, 1986) was an American coroner who was the chief coroner for Los Angeles and Nassau (New York) Counties. Curphey was elected Nassau County medical examiner on December 15, 1937 by the ...

: March 19, 1957 – October 25, 1967 *

Thomas Noguchi is the former Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner for the County of Los Angeles. Popularly known as the "coroner to the stars", Noguchi determined the cause of death in many high-profile cases in Hollywood during the 1960s and 1970s. He performed a ...

: October 26, 1967 – April 27, 1982 *

Ronald Kornblum Ronald N. Kornblum was an American coroner who served as Los Angeles County Coroner from 1982 to 1990. Early life Kornblum was born December 5, 1933 in Chicago. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of California, Los Angeles a ...

: April 27, 1982 – July 1, 1990 * J. Lawrence Cogan (acting): July 2, 1990 – February 18, 1992 * Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran: February 18, 1992 – March 31, 2013 * Mark A. Fajardo: August 12, 2013 – April 11, 2016 * Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran (interim): April 11, 2016 – January 18, 2017 *Christopher Rogers (acting): January 19, 2017 – July 9, 2017 * Jonathan R. Lucas: July 10, 2017 – November 4, 2022 * Odey C. Ukpo: November 4, 2022 – present

References

External links

* {{Authority control Boyle Heights, Los Angeles County government agencies in California Government of Los Angeles County, California Medical examiners

List of Medical Examiners

See also

References

External links