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TRENTON
– New Jersey Attorney General Stuart
Rabner today announced the appointment of
Dr. Victor W. Weedn as Acting State Medical
Examiner of New Jersey.
Weedn
is a board-certified forensic pathologist
and attorney. He has served as a crime lab
director and as a medical examiner. Most
recently, Weedn was an associate medical
examiner in the Medical Examiner’s
Office of Allegheny County in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.
Weedn
is known for pioneering forensic DNA victim
identification. He established the military’s
DNA identification program. The Armed Forces
DNA Identification Laboratory was the first
to use STR (short tandem repeats) as well
as mitochondrial DNA testing for casework
by a forensic laboratory in 1991 for victims
of the Persian Gulf War. The Armed Forces
lab became one of the largest forensic DNA
labs in the world and was responsible for
such high profile cases as the Waco, Texas,
Branch Davidian fire victims, TWA Flight
800 victims, Pentagon 9/11 victims, and
Michael Blassie from the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier.
Weedn
has published more than 80 articles in forensic
pathology and criminalistics and continues
to serve on the boards of the Journal of
Forensic Science and the American Journal
of Forensic Medicine and Pathology. He is
the immediate past chair of the Path/Bio
section of the American Association of Forensic
Sciences, the prior chairman of the College
of American Pathologists’ Forensic
Pathology Committee, and was twice on the
Board of Directors of the National Association
of Medical Examiners (NAME). He was responsible
for developing the current accreditation
standards for medical examiner offices and
has led NAME strategic planning for the
past decade.
“We
are pleased to have such talented and prominent
figure joining our staff,” Attorney
General Rabner said. “Dr. Weedn’s
years of experience will be an asset to
the Medical Examiner’s Office.”
Weedn was formally nominated chief medical
examiner by Governor Jon S. Corzine and
will become New Jersey’s fourth State
Medical Examiner upon Senate confirmation.
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