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.

Patricia J. McFeeley, M.D., Assistant Chief Medical Investigator, received her undergraduate education at Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio and earned her M.D. degree from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM. She completed her residency in pathology at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, with one year spent in specialty training in pediatric pathology at Denver Children's Hospital. She completed post-doctoral fellowship training in forensic pathology at the Office of the Medical Investigator, where she is currently Assistant Chief Medical Investigator for the state of New Mexico. Dr. McFeeley is certified in anatomic and forensic pathology by the American Board of Pathology.

Dr. McFeeley is Past President of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and a member of the National Association of Medical Examiners (past board of directors member), the American Medical Association and New Mexico medical and pathology societies. She was a member of the Pathology Study Panel of the NICHD Cooperative Epidemiologic Study of SIDS Risk Factors and was a co-author of SIDS Histopathology Atlas published by the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Dr. McFeeley has been a consultant to the Centers for Disease Control Medical Examiner/Coroner Information Sharing Project and is currently a member/chair of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Medical Examiner and Coroner Task Force. She is a sponsor/member of the New Mexico Maternal Mortality Review (MMR) and the Child Fatality Review (CFR). In 2000 she was an invited Participant/Presenter at Attorney General Janet Reno's Round Table Discussion, "Elder Justice: Medical Forensic Issues Relating to Elder Abuse and Neglect," Washington, DC and was a co-investigator in a Department of Justice funded project to investigate the role of forensic science in identification and future prevention of mistreatment deaths in long-term care facilities. Her research interests include pediatric forensic pathology including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), Time of Death, Death Scene Investigation and Elder Abuse and Neglect.

Kurt B. Nolte, M.D., is is Assistant Chief Medical Investigator and Professor of Pathology and is also the Assistant Dean for Research in the UNM School of Medicine. He 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 research interests include surveillance for infectious disease and violent deaths. 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. 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.

Rebecca Irvine, M.D., Associate Medical Investigator,and Assistant Professor of Pathology, received her Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts (with Distinction) degrees at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. She completed her medical degree at McMaster University School of Medicine in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and completed a comprehensive residency in Internal Medicine in Springfield, MA, at the Western Campus of Tufts University. She then completed a residency in Anatomic Pathology at Yale University, New Haven, CT, and at the Western Campus of Tufts University.

Following a fellowship in Forensic Pathology at the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque, NM, she remained on staff as an instructor of Forensic Pathology for two years. She was a forensic pathologist in the Vancouver, British Columbia region for three years. She returned to the Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque in 2001. Dr. Irvine is American Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Anatomic Pathology and Forensic Pathology. She has particular interest in cardiovascular pathology and the history of medicine and is a very active in the School of Medicine at the University of New Mexico.

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.

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 Anatomical, 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.

Debra Komar, Ph.D., received her undergraduate education at the University of Toronto and her M.Sc. degree in Anatomy and Cellular Biology at Queen’s University. She then completed her Ph.D. in Forensic Anthropology at the University of Alberta. She completed her forensic training at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Alberta Justice. Dr. Komar is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology.

Dr. Komar has worked extensively in international human rights investigations in the former Yugoslavia with Physicians for Human Rights, the United Nations and the International Commission on Missing Persons, in Iraq with the RCLO and Iraqi High Tribunal. Most recently, she served as a member of a scientific advisory team evaluating the potential medicolegal response to the crisis in Darfur. Her research focuses on issues relating to identification and identity in genocide and war crimes.

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.

Scott Wilson, B.S., Associate Director, Investigations and Technical Services, worked for the Albuquerque Police Department from 1981-1992 - promoted to Sergeant in 1985. He served in patrol operations, investigations, fatal traffic accident investigation, and as a field training officer. He has been an Emergency Medical Technician since 1980.

Scott graduated from the University of New Mexico with a Bachelors degree in 1993. He also worked at Los Alamos National Laboratories from 1993-1995 as a Graduate Research Associate, Biophysics. He has been with OMI since 1995 serving as field deputy supervisor and central office investigations supervisor.

Tim Stepetic, MBA, has been with OMI as the Associate Director for Administrative Services since April 1998. Prior to that he managed research programs for the College of Engineering after serving in the Air Force as a Civil Engineer for 23 years and retired as Lieutenant Colonel in 1985. He received his BA in Geology from the College of Wooster, and his MBA from the University of Utah.;

Tim is an avid Steelers fan - born and raised in Pittsburgh, and he lives in the North Valley with Lorrie, his wife of 25 years and daughters, Kelly and Jamie. He enjoys travel and cycling.

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.