Jonathan has worked in the tissue banking and donation field for 15 years holding roles in tissue recovery and leadership. Jonathan is currently the Associate Director of Tissue Acquisition at Lonza where he supports Lonza’s various divisions engaged in research and clinical applications utilizing human organs, tissues, and cells. Prior to joining Lonza, Jonathan served as the Director of Education at AATB where he led the development of educational programming and webinars just like this one.

Jonathan is an active member of the AATB Recovery and Donor Eligibility Council, International Association of Coroners & Medical Examiners Board of Directors and Advocacy Committee, and the National Association of Medical Examiners Ad-Hoc Organ and Tissue Procurement Committee.

 Jonathan earned his undergraduate degree in communications, a master’s degree of science in management, and is a Certified Tissue Bank Specialist and a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.

Kristen joined Miracles in Sight in 2019 as the Vice President of Client Relations.  She has over 23 years of eye banking experience focusing on clinical operations, technician training, process improvement, and new service line development.  She is a Certified Eye Bank Technician (CEBT) and Certified Tissue Bank Specialist (CTBS).  She has served on numerous Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA) committees and sub-committees over the years including the Technician Education Committee, the Certification Board, and Research Committee. Kristen has served as faculty for the EBAA Technician Education Symposium and Slit Lamp Course.  Kristen holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dayton and a Masters of Health and Human Services Administration from St. Mary’s University in Minnesota.

Kelly Keyes is a Research Forensic Scientist at RTI International in the Center for Forensic Science Advancement and Application, following a 25-year career as a Medicolegal Death Investigator at the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner’s Office.  She has investigated and certified thousands of cases in her career and retired as a Supervising Investigator.  She has a BS in Animal Physiology from UC San Diego, is a California POST Certified death investigator, and is a diplomat with ABMDI. Ms. Keyes is the president-elect of the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners (IACME), a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME) and the chair of the medicolegal death investigation subcommittee at OSAC. Her current research revolves around various aspects of medicolegal death investigation and coroner and medical examiner systems in the United States, including improving accuracy and thoroughness of data produced by these populations.

Brian Bricker began his career at the Center for Organ Recovery and Education (CORE) in 1998 as an Organ Procurement Coordinator. Brian currently serves as the Director of Clinical Operations, overseeing the Donor Referral, Recovery, and Procurement Departments. Brian is a registered nurse and a Certified Procurement Transplant Coordinator through the American Board of Transplant Certification.

Laura Labay is a Principal Toxicologist at NMS Labs where she has worked for over 20 years. Laura graduated from the University of Rochester with a doctoral degree in Toxicology. She has two board certifications – one from the American Board of Forensic Toxicology and one from the American Board of Clinical Chemistry in Toxicological Chemistry. Laura was drawn to the field of toxicology through her interest in poisons and understanding their mechanisms of action. One of her main responsibilities include being the main resource for consultation on high complexity clinical and forensic toxicology cases. Laura is a member of several professional organizations such as NAME, SOFT, AAFS, and ADLM. She has recently lectured on topics such as Major Drug Categories and their Effects, Cannabinoid and their Analogs, and Exhumation Toxicology. 

Dr. Hammers is a Board Certified Anatomic, Clinical and Forensic Pathologist who performs autopsies and teaches the Forensic Pathology course for the fifth-year students in the Master of Anthropology Program at Boston University and the Master of Forensic Science and Law Program at Duquesne University. Dr. Hammers has a particular interest in cardiac pathology and actively participates in research related to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). After training in forensic pathology in at the New York City Medical Examiner’s office, she worked for several years in Massachusetts and New York City. Dr. Hammers then accepted a position in a private practice located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she worked for over five years before establishing Jennifer Hammers Pathology, which serves several counties in Western Pennsylvania by providing autopsy services. Dr. Hammers also performs autopsies and medical legal consultations at the request of families and attorneys.

As the Westmoreland County coroner, Timothy Carson is responsible for investigating the facts and circumstances of deaths that occur within the county, regardless of where the cause thereof may have occurred. The purpose of the investigation shall be to determine the cause of death and manner of death. He is also responsible for determining whether or not there is sufficient reason to believe that any such death may have resulted from criminal acts or criminal neglect of persons other than the deceased.

Timothy Carson worked in the Westmoreland County Sheriff's Office from 2000-2011 as the Director of Community Affairs and Grant Coordinator. He served as Chief Deputy in the Register of Wills Office from 2011-2012. Timothy is a 1989 graduate of Southmoreland High School and 1993 graduate of Waynesburg College. He resides in Scottdale and has three daughters and two sons.

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Dr. Emily Duncanson is a cardiovascular and forensic pathologist. She is a graduate of the University of Minnesota Medical School. She completed an anatomic pathology residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan and a two-year forensic pathology fellowship at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York, including a year of forensic cardiovascular pathology. She has been a cardiovascular pathologist at the Jesse E Edwards Registry of Cardiovascular Disease since 2008 along with Dr. Shannon Mackey-Bojack. The Registry pathologists examine almost 2000 postmortem cardiac specimens per year, including over 1500 post-valve recovery donor hearts. 

 Dr. Karl E. Williams is a life-long Pittsburgher, graduating as valedictorian from South Hills High School, in 1965, and subsequently being inducted into its Hall of Fame for Medicine/Science. His passions are his family, (son, Michael), music, literature, sailing, France and Armagnac!

 At Oberlin College, his undergraduate years were spent pursuing a major in Biology and a minor in Religion.

Following Oberlin, he attended the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine (Class of 1974), where he worked as a bench scientist at Mellon Institute and won an essay award from the Pennsylvania Medical Society.

Following graduation with a MD degree, he completed an internship in Washington DC Veteran’s Administration Hospital and Georgetown University Hospital. He then worked four years as an Emergency Room physician in Scranton, before returning to residency programs in Pathology at Allegheny General Hospital under the directorship of Dr. Robert Hartsock, and at Shadyside Hospital, under the directorship Dr. Edwin Fisher.

After completing his training in Pathology, he was employed for two years at the Coroner’s Office of Allegheny County. 

The science of Pathology holds the keys to understanding the most complex diseases and discrepancies of the body. It is also central to resolving Medicolegal issues in Forensic Pathology.

Karl is triple boarded in Anatomic, Clinical and Forensic Pathology, as well as having a Master’s in Public Health, from the Graduate School of Public Health of the University of Pittsburgh, in Occupational/Environmental Medicine.

Before becoming Allegheny County’s first appointed Medical Examiner, he was the Laboratory Director of Ellwood City Hospital, as well as the Medical Director of that hospital’s Occupational Medicine division. He was, additionally, Director of a high-tech start up medical biotech research and lab which performed testing of malignancies for the purpose of evaluating chemotherapy options.  

The Office of the Medical Examiner is one of the rare facilities in the country to have the complete set of Crime Laboratories integrated with its morgue and Death Scene Investigation System.

The collaboration of these two aspects of investigation can be applied in novel issues in Public Health, such the current drug overdose epidemic ravaging the country, as well as to frontier areas such as the use of DNA in the court system.

Some prominent cases that Karl has been involved with during his career include the crash of USAir 427 in 1995, the arrest and conviction of the Ross Township serial rapist, the cyanide poisoning of a local physician by her husband and the Tree of Life Synagogue slayings.

For the past decade one of his principal concerns have been with the on-going drug overdose epidemic. He works with the Pitt School of Pharmacy in creating and maintaining a unique resource Overdose Free PA.