2024 IFDF Annual Conference: Medical Examiners Panel
The IFDF Foundation
Presents
the 2024 Annual Conference & Trade Show
Sponsored by Argent Trust
"A Comprehensive Review of the Florida Medical Examiner’s System:
Function, Responsibility, Challenges,
and Duties to the Public"
(2-hr CE Course)
Thursday, May 30
10:15 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Hammock Beach Golf Resort & Spa
Palm Coast, FL
Learn More and Register Here
About the Course
An informational, inquiry-led panel geared towards fostering clear communication and positive relationships between Medical Examiner’s offices and funeral homes. The panel will focus on, but not limited to, definitive explanation of Florida Statutes (406.11 – Examinations, investigations, and autopsies) and common misnomers associated with, when should funeral homes report deaths and how to move forward, statutory requirements for examination and religious preferences/practices, family opposition and demands, and expanded explanation on the necessity of specialized testing and tissue retention.
About the Moderator and Panelists
Mrs. Krystal Locklear, Moderator
Chief Forensic Investigator,
District 5 & 24 Medical Examiner’s Office
Mrs. Krystal Locklear is a board-certified, medicolegal professional with thirteen years of experience specializing in death investigations, mass fatality management, and complex human remains recovery. While currently serving as the Chief Forensic Investigator at the Districts 5 and 24 Medical Examiner’s office, she has been able to expand her expertise in morgue and transport operations, as well as establish a comprehensive understanding of administrative code, state statute, and policy and procedure compliance. She contributes to the field through her involvement with various professional organizations including the National Homicide Investigators Association, American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators (ABMDI – Fellow), Cold Case Advisory Committee and the Florida Emergency Mortuary Operations Response System (FEMORS) - while actively participating in deployments during state of emergency declarations and disaster situations. She is a graduate of St Petersburg College with degrees in Funeral Services and Health Services Administration – Management and Human Services.
Panelists
Dr. Thomas Coyne,
Chief Medical Examiner – District 2
Thomas M. Coyne, M.D., Ph.D. completed a Ph.D. in Toxicology (2006) and M.D. degree (2009) from Rutgers University and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, N.J. He completed post-graduate training in anatomic pathology and neuropathology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in 2013 and forensic pathology training at the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner Office in 2014. He is currently certified in anatomic pathology, neuropathology, and forensic pathology by the American Board of Pathology. Following residency and fellowship training, he served as Associate Medical Examiner and Deputy Chief Medical Examiner for the District 21 Medical Examiner’s Office in Fort Myers, FL from 2014 to 2022. In October 2022, he was appointed the Chief Medical Examiner for the District 8 Medical Examiner’s Office in Gainesville, FL. As the District Medical Examiner, he performs medico-legal death examinations/autopsies, certifies cause and manner of death, and provides expert testimony in accordance with Florida Statutes Chapter 406.
Dr. Wendy Lavezzi
Private/Self-employed Pathologist
Dr. Wendy Lavezzi is a self-employed Forensic Pathologist. She was most recently the Deputy Chief Medical Examiner for 16 years at the Districts 5 and 24 Medical Examiner’s Office in Leesburg, Florida and prior to that she was an Associate Medical Examiner at the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office in Chicago. She is board certified in Anatomic Pathology, Clinical Pathology, and Forensic Pathology. She completed her medical school and residency training in Albany, NY, and then finished her training with a fellowship in Forensic Pathology in Chicago. She is a Past President of the Lake County Medical Society, and she has been a delegate for the Florida Medical Association. Before attending medical school, Dr. Lavezzi had a 15-year career as a registered nurse, with a specialty in critical care. She has given lectures and seminars in Forensic Pathology and in Death Certification in association with the Advanced Practical Homicide Seminar, the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology, the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, the Chicago Bar Association, the county Medical Societies, the Department of Children and Families, The National Hurricane Conference, various residency programs in pathology, medicine, emergency medicine, and surgery, and hospital administrators, physician groups, nurses, and law enforcement. She has also provided clinical teaching to medical students, resident physicians, paramedic and nursing students, and police trainees.
Dr. Daniel Schultz
The Autopsy Doctor
Dr. Daniel Schultz is a forensic pathologist and the founder/president of Final Diagnosis Inc. a freestanding autopsy lab serving the entire United States and abroad located in Tampa, Florida. He is board certified in forensic, anatomic, and clinical pathology and received his MD from Michigan State university in 1990. Dan worked as a medical examiner/coroner most of his career in Sarasota and Tampa Florida, in Cincinnati Ohio, and in Michigan. Notable cases have included 2015 second autopsy of Alfred Anglin (died 1964) featured in “Alcatraz: Search for the Truth” on History Channel, the Stephen Smith second autopsy in 2023 (died 2015) from South Carolina whose story was featured on the “Murdaugh Murders” series on Netflix, the Glen Rogers 1995 serial murder case involving Tina Cribbs in Tampa, the 2000 Roger Owensby police custody death in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the 2018 brodifacoum poisoning via synthetic marijuana in Tampa, FL. He has autopsied roughly 7000+ cases and personally attended all homicide scenes, complicated traffics and infant deaths in his jurisdictions for his entire career.
Dr. Wendolyn Sneed
Chief Medical Examiner – District 23
Dr. Sneed was born and raised in the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. In her teenage years she developed an interest in science, anatomy, and human physiology, and in high school she recognized that forensic pathology would become her career goal. She obtained her Bachelors of Science degree at the University of Vermont and worked as a Medical Technologist at the John Randolph Medical Center in Virginia before attending medical school at Ponce School of Medicine in Puerto Rico. Dr. Sneed did her residency in pathology at the Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach and her subspecialty in forensic pathology at the Miami Dade County Medical Examiner Department graduating in 2005. She is board certified in anatomic, clinical, and forensic pathology and has solely practiced as a forensic pathologist for the last 18 years. She worked as an associate medical examiner through various offices in Florida and Arizona, and as a Chief Medical Examiner at the Palm Beach County Medical Examiner’s Office and the District 23 Medical Examiner Office. Professionally, her passion lies in education and training with the ultimate goal of providing the highest quality of medicolegal death services for the counties she serves.