Jefferson County coroner receives highest national award for medical examiners

The Jefferson County chief coroner and medical examiner is the newest recipient of the nation’s most prestigious award given to medical examiners.

The American Academy of Forensic Sciences presented Alabama’s Dr. Gregory Davis with the 2016 Milton Helpern Award at the 68th Annual Scientific Meeting held in Las Vegas, Nevada in February.

“I was humbled, to see all of the previous recipients and to think I would be considered by my peers worthy of being on that list,” Dr. Davis said. “I didn’t grasp how big it was until I looked and saw what all it entailed. I’ve just been doing my work.”

Dr. Davis has been the Jefferson County chief coroner and medical examiner since 2013, and he is also the director of the Forensic Division of the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of Pathology. Davis has been a part of the Medical Examiner’s office since 1993.

Davis attended Vanderbilt University for college, medical school, and his pathology residency. He completed his forensic pathology fellowship at the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office and earned his Master of Science of Public Health from UAB.

As the head of the Jefferson County Coroner/Medical Examiner’s office, Davis oversees approximately 25% of deaths occurring in Jefferson County. He is responsible for notifying the proper authorities if he suspects criminal violence or neglect, suspicious circumstances, or other trauma or violence has occurred.

He has also published a number of renowned articles on a variety of subjects, including a comparison of heart mass in seizure patients dying sudden deaths to deaths caused by other factors, connections between drug abuse and sudden death, and suggestions for investigating, diagnosing, and certifying deaths in cases involving opiod drugs. He has also written one book.

Davis has also been a prominent member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, being elected to chair and direct a number of sections of the organization, and a member of the Board of Directors since 2011.

The Milton Helpern Award is named after New York City’s most famous chief medical examiner. Nicknamed “Sherlock Holmes with a microscope,” Helpern performed over 20,000 autopsies in 20 years.