Renowned Forensic Pathologist Dr. Cyril Wecht to Speak at DeSales

Dr. Wecht will speak on the Kennedy Assassination, which marks its 50th anniversary in November.

Cyril H. Wecht, M.D., J.D., forensic pathologist, attorney, and medical-legal consultant, will speak at DeSales University in the Commonwealth and Hurd rooms of the DeSales University Center on the school’s Center Valley campus.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

An expert in forensic medicine, Wecht has frequently appeared on several nationally syndicated programs discussing various medicolegal and forensic scientific issues, including medical malpractice, drug abuse, the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King; the death of Elvis Presley; the O.J. Simpson case; and the JonBenet Ramsey case.

Wecht is a clinical professor at the University of Pittsburgh Schools of Medicine, Dental Medicine, and Graduate School of Public Health, and holds positions as an adjunct professor at the Duquesne University School of Law, School of Pharmacy, and School of Health Sciences.

The author of more than 550 professional publications, Wecht is also an editorial board member of more than 20 national and international medical-legal and forensic scientific publications. He is also the author of Cause of Death, Grave Secrets, Who Killed JonBenet Ramsey?, Mortal Evidence, Tales from the Morgue, and A Question of Murder.

Formerly the chairman of the Department of Pathology at Saint Francis Central Hospital in Pittsburgh, Wecht is now the president of its medical staff. He has performed approximately 18,000 autopsies and has supervised, reviewed, or has been consulted on approximately 30,000 additional postmortem examinations.

Wecht has testified in more than 1,000 civil, criminal, and workers’ compensation cases in state and federal courts in more than 30 states, he has testified in several foreign countries.

Wecht received his medical degree from the University of Pittsburgh, and his law degree from the University of Maryland. He is certified by the American Board of Pathology, in anatomic, clinical, and forensic pathology, and is also a Fellow of the College of American Pathologists, the American Society of Clinical Pathologists, and the National Association of Medical Examiners.

Wecht and his wife, Sigrid, have four children and eleven grandchildren.  He has received numerous awards and honors from various professional, community, and governmental organizations. In September 2010 he received the Distinguished Forensic Scientist Award from the Dr. Henry C. Lee Institute of Forensic Science. In October, 2010, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner facility was officially designated as the Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science.