Ross E. Zumwalt, M.D., Chief Medical Investigator of the State of New Mexico, B.A., Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana; M.D., University of Illinois College of Medicine; internship and pathology residency at the Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital, Cooperstown, New York; pathology residency at the Southwestern Medical School, Dallas; forensic fellowship training at the Dallas County Medical Examiner’s Office; military service as director of laboratories at the Navy Regional Medical Center in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Two years as deputy coroner in Cleveland, Ohio, and six years as deputy coroner in Cincinnati, Ohio, before coming to the Office of the Medical Investigator in 1987. Dr. Zumwalt is certified in anatomic and forensic pathology by the American Board of Pathology. He was a trustee of the American Board of Pathology from 1993 to 2004.

Dr. Zumwalt has served as president of the National Association of Medical Examiners and is a member of the following professional organizations: The National Association of Medical Examiners; The American Academy of Forensic Sciences; College of American Pathologists; American Society of Clinical Pathologists; United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology; American Medical Association; and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Kurt B. Nolte, M.D., Assistant Chief Medical Investigator, Professor of Pathology and Assistant Vice President for Research in the UNM Health Sciences Center, received his undergraduate and medical education at the University of Pennsylvania and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. After an internship in internal medicine he spent a year in the Indian Health Service as a general practitioner. He resumed his training with residencies in anatomic pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Pennsylvania Hospital. He received his forensic pathology training at the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. Dr. Nolte is board certified in anatomic and forensic pathology.

Dr. Nolte is engaged in several collaborative projects with the NM Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. His academic interests include surveillance for infectious disease mortality, autopsy biosafety, the epidemiology of drug abuse, and mass fatality planning. He is active in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences where he is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Forensic Sciences. He is also active in the National Association of Medical Examiners where he chairs the Ad Hoc Committee for Infectious Diseases and Bioterrorism and is a member of the Nominating Committee. Dr. Nolte is a member of the Forensic Pathology Test Development and Advisory Committee of the American Board of Pathology.

R. Ross Reichard, M.D., Assistant Chief Medical Investigator and Director of Neuropathology, received his undergraduate degree (B.A. Anthropology) from Centre College in Danville, KY, and a Masters of Science (Anatomical Sciences and Neurobiology) and Doctor of Medicine from the University of Louisville, Louisville, KY. He then completed a combined Anatomic and Neuropathology Residency at University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX, a 1-year credentialing year in Anatomic Pathology at Stanford University in Stanford, CA, and a 1-year Forensic Pathology Fellowship at the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque, NM. 

Dr. Reichard is board certified in Anatomical Pathology, Neuropathology, and Forensic Pathology. He is a member of multiple national organizations and his research interests are in forensic neuropathology, particularly pediatric head injury.

Jeff Nine, M.D., Associate Medical Investigator, received his Bachelor's Degree from Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio, and his Medical Degree from Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine. He completed a year of general surgery training at Mercy Hospital of Pittsburgh, four years of general pathology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and a year of forensic pathology at the OMI in Albuquerque. Dr. Nine is board certified in anatomic, clinical and forensic pathology by the American Board of Pathology.

Since completing fellowship training, Dr. Nine worked as a Deputy Coroner at the Montgomery County Coroner's Office in Dayton, Ohio, where he served as director of the forensic pathology fellowship program, and was appointed an assistant professor of pathology at Wright State University School of Medicine. Prior to taking a position here at the OMI, he was Deputy Chief Medical Examiner at the Maricopa County Medical Examiner's Office in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Nine is currently the Fellowship Director at OMI.

Ian Paul, M.D., Associate Medical Investigator, received his undergraduate degree from the George Washington Universitiy and his medical degree from McGill University Faculty of Medicine in Montreal, Canada. He completed an internal medicine internship year at Brown University, an emergency medicine residency at the Boston Medical Center, a pathology residency at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, MA, and a one-year fellowship in forensic pathology at the NM Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque, NM. Dr. Paul is board certified in Emergency Medicine by the American Board of Emergency Medicine and in Forensic & Anatomic Pathology by the American Board of Pathology. Dr. Paul is currently the Pathology Residency Program director for the University of New Mexico.

Michelle Barry, M.D., Associate Medical Investigator, is a native of the west and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Oregon and her Doctor of Medicine degree from Oregon Health Sciences University. She completed a five-year combined residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, which included a credentialing year as the Acting Autopsy Fellow, at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. Her education was completed by a one-year Forensic Pathology Fellowship at the NM Office of the Medical Investigator where she is currently an Associate Medical Investigator. Dr. Barry is board certified by the American Board of Pathology, in Anatomic, Clinical, and Forensic Pathology.

She is actively involved with national associations and her research interests include suicide deaths and prevention, hospital autopsy, mentoring in pathology, and toxicology.

Peter W.Loomis, D.D.S., received his undergraduate education at the University of New Mexico and his dental degree from the University of Missouri School of Dentistry. After a one-year general practice residency, he spent two years at the Indian Health Service Hospital in Zuni, NM, as a general dentist. He received his training in Forensic Odontology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology and the University of New Mexico. He maintained a private general dental practice in Albuquerque for 28 years, and has been a forensic odontology consultant with OMI since 1976.

Dr. Loomis is board certified in Forensic Odontology, a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and member of the American Society of Forensic Odontology. He is the founder and director of the New Mexico Mass Disaster Dental Identification Team, and is a forensic odontologist for DMORT Region 6. His research interests include oral infections, age estimation based on transparent dentin and pattern injury analysis.

Sarah L. Lathrop, DVM, Ph.D., OMI Epidemiologist, received her undergraduate education at Colorado State University and earned her DVM from the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. She practiced veterinary medicine in Cortez, Colorado, and then completed a PhD in veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State University. Dr. Lathrop served a two-year post-doctoral fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer, studying vector-borne infectious diseases such as plague, tularemia, and dengue. After a brief stint in industry overseeing clinical vaccine trials, Dr. Lathrop joined OMI to conduct epidemiological studies using medical examiner data.

Nancy Barickman, M.S.W., LISW has been with OMI since 1999 as director of the Grief Services Program. She received her Masters in Social Work in 1990 from New Mexico Highlands University and a certificate in trauma treatment from the International Trauma Studies Program at New York University. 

Prior to OMI Nancy worked for the New Mexico Department of Health, developing mental health services for people affected by HIV disease and had a private psychotherapy practice.