Author: Jim Jones
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is in Raleigh.
May 28, 2019 – Dr. Michelle Aurelius has been appointed Chief Medical Examiner for the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (NC OCME).
“In her new role, Dr. Aurelius will continue to provide leadership and administration for NC OCME, which includes autopsy, forensic toxicology, forensic pathology and medicolegal death investigation,” said Beth Lovette, Interim Director of the Division of Public Health. “Her experiences are motivated on improving medicolegal death investigation and forensic pathology at local, state and national levels.”
The OCME is a branch in the Epidemiology Section of the Division of Public Health. The North Carolina Medical Examiner System is a network of medical doctors and allied health professionals throughout North Carolina who devote their time, energy and medical expertise to see that deaths of a suspicious, unusual or unnatural nature are adequately investigated.
Aurelius has served North Carolina as Deputy Chief Medical Examiner since 2015. More recently, she served as Interim Chief Medical Examiner. Prior to joining the NC OCME team, Aurelius served the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator as Assistant Chief Medical Investigator and Hospital Autopsy Director.
She holds triple board certifications in Anatomic, Clinical, and Forensic Pathology. She has performed and supervised more than 3,500 autopsies, reviewed over 6,000 medicolegal death investigation reports and has testified in state and federal courts. Aurelius is a recognized national leader with pathology organizations and in forensic research.