The Tennessee Department of Health recently announced the appointment of two accomplished physicians and forensic pathologists, each with deep and complementary experience at the local, state and national levels, to direct the state’s medical examiner office.

Julia C. Goodin, MD, will serve as state chief medical examiner, effective May 1. Since 1999, she has served as chief state medical examiner for the Iowa Department of Public Health, having performed more than 4,500 autopsies and testified as an expert witness in both state and federal-level courts. After earning her medical degree from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in 1983, Goodin completed a residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at Vanderbilt and was a visiting resident in the ME’s Office and Department of Pathology at the University of South Carolina and was a forensic pathology fellow in the Office of Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore from 1987 to 1988. She holds diplomate certifications from the National Board of Medical Examiners and the American Board of Pathology and has held a number of teaching positions. Goodin is a retired captain in the U.S. Naval Reserve.

Adele Lewis, MD, will serve as deputy state chief medical examiner, effective March 6. She earned her medical degree in 1997 from the University of Alabama School of Medicine. After residencies in general surgery, trauma and surgical critical care and anatomic pathology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, she completed a fellowship in forensic pathology at the Office of the Medical Examiner in Nashville. She has earned diplomate certifications in both forensic and anatomic pathology from the American Board of Pathology and has academic appointments including assistant clinical professor, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt; adjunct assistant professor, Meharry Medical College Department of Pathology; lecturer at the Forensic Institute for Research and Education at Middle Tennessee State University; among others. Lewis also serves as chair of the Board of the Nashville Academy of Medicine and as chair of the Public Health Committee of the Tennessee Medical Association. Immediately prior to this new role, Lewis served as deputy chief medical examiner for Nashville/Davidson County and as assistant and associate medical examiner for Forensic Medical Management Services, PLC in Nashville.