The Center for Forensic Science Research and Education, with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) is pleased to offer a thought-provoking series entitled, “The Role of Comprehensive Medicolegal Death Investigation as part of a Public Health Improvement Strategy”.

This twelve-part series will feature presentations from forensic pathology, forensic toxicology, and medical toxicology experts; followed by panel discussions and interactive Q&A sessions on emerging topics and challenges in drug toxicity in death in today’s challenging illicit drug environment. The series will involve a multitude of topics relating to drug and substance poisoning deaths that pose complexities and challenges in ensuring we are collecting accurate drug death certification data. Attendees will also gain an understanding of how forensic pathologists use autopsy findings and other evidence to determine the cause and manner of death in drug-related cases. Each webinar in this series will explore the challenges and limitations of drug death certification, including issues related to the interpretation of toxicological results, the identification of drug-related deaths, and the potential for false-positive or false-negative results. We will also be exploring the emerging topics in drug death certification, such as the use of new psychoactive substances and the impact of the opioid epidemic on drug death rates....

Forensic entomology is the discipline of forensic science that uses insects as tools in criminal investigations. In many instances, insects serve as physical and trace evidence associated with a violent crime. The most familiar example are necrophagous fly larvae that feed on human remains. An understanding of the development of the species present can lead to an estimation of the postmortem interval. Sometimes insects are the only available resource for making decisions on when the decedent may have died, if the body has moved from another location, or performing supplemental testing such toxicological or DNA analysis. In the latter example, fly larvae function as surrogates for human tissues....

Xylazine is increasingly being encountered along with fentanyl in the illicit opioid supply and its contribution to cause of death is often in dispute. This presentation will review the pharmacology and toxicology of xylazine and provide a current review of CFSRE and NMS Labs drug positivity data and the impact this adulterant is having on drug using subjects....

CFSRE’s NPS Discovery is an open-access drug early warning system (EWS) operating in the United States. NPS Discovery’s evidence-based approach leads the development of high impact reports for real-time action. We are working in collaboration with public health and public safety agencies to rapidly identify emerging drugs associated with intoxications, adverse events, and fatalities....

CFSRE’s NPS Discovery is an open-access drug early warning system (EWS) operating in the United States. NPS Discovery’s evidence-based approach leads the development of high impact reports for real-time action. We are working in collaboration with public health and public safety agencies to rapidly identify emerging drugs associated with intoxications, adverse events, and fatalities....

CFSRE’s NPS Discovery is an open-access drug early warning system (EWS) operating in the United States. NPS Discovery’s evidence-based approach leads the development of high impact reports for real-time action. We are working in collaboration with public health and public safety agencies to rapidly identify emerging drugs associated with intoxications, adverse events, and fatalities....

CFSRE’s NPS Discovery is an open-access drug early warning system (EWS) operating in the United States. NPS Discovery’s evidence-based approach leads the development of high impact reports for real-time action. We are working in collaboration with public health and public safety agencies to rapidly identify emerging drugs associated with intoxications, adverse events, and fatalities....

CFSRE’s NPS Discovery is an open-access drug early warning system (EWS) operating in the United States. NPS Discovery’s evidence-based approach leads the development of high impact reports for real-time action. We are working in collaboration with public health and public safety agencies to rapidly identify emerging drugs associated with intoxications, adverse events, and fatalities....

CFSRE’s NPS Discovery is an open-access drug early warning system (EWS) operating in the United States. NPS Discovery’s evidence-based approach leads the development of high impact reports for real-time action. We are working in collaboration with public health and public safety agencies to rapidly identify emerging drugs associated with intoxications, adverse events, and fatalities....

CFSRE’s NPS Discovery is an open-access drug early warning system (EWS) operating in the United States. NPS Discovery’s evidence-based approach leads the development of high impact reports for real-time action. We are working in collaboration with public health and public safety agencies to rapidly identify emerging drugs associated with intoxications, adverse events, and fatalities....