Forensic Pathology Fellowship

The Forensic Pathology Fellowship was started in 2004 and is accredited fully by the American Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).  The student Fellow works with the medical examiners and scientific staff while receiving 12 months of work experience at the Medical Examiner’s Office.  When the program is completed successfully, the Fellow will graduate and become eligible to sit for their board examination in forensic pathology after which one may pursue a career as a forensic pathologist.

According to the ACGME, residency and fellowship programs are essential dimensions of the transformation of the medical student to the independent practitioner along the continuum of medical education.  The specialty education of physicians to practice independently is experiential and necessarily occurs within the context of the health care delivery system.  Developing the skills, knowledge and attitudes leading to proficiency in all the domains of clinical competency requires the fellow physician to assume personal responsibility for the care of individual patients. For the fellow, the essential learning activity is interaction with patients under the guidance and supervision of faculty members who give value, context and meaning to those interactions. As fellows gain experience and demonstrate growth in their ability to care for patients, they assume roles that permit them to exercise those skills with greater independence. This concept -- graded and progressive responsibility -- is one of the core tenets of American graduate medical education. Supervision in the setting of graduate medical education has the goals of assuring the provision of safe and effective care to the individual patient; assuring each fellow’s development of the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to enter the unsupervised practice of medicine; and establishing a foundation for continued professional growth.

Accordingly, the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office is accredited by the ACGME to provide a 12-month program in Forensic Pathology, which is the application of the principles of medicine and pathology to the study of sudden, unexpected, suspicious and violent death to determine the mechanisms, cause and manner of death.

For further information, go to American Council for Graduate Medical Education. 

NOTE:  Tarrant County does not sponsor visa candidates.    

For application, deadline, and salary information regarding the Forensic Fellowship program at the Tarrant County Medical Examiner's Office, please contact the Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Kendall Crowns, via one of the methods below:

Mail:  Tarrant County Medical Examiner, 200 Feliks Gwozdz Place, Fort Worth, TX 76104-4919

Telephone: 817-920-5700 / Fax: 817-920-5713

Email: kvcrowns@tarrantcountytx.gov