Dane County Names Vincent Tranchida County’s First Medical Examiner
November 17, 2010
Joshua Wescott, Office of the County Executive (608) 267-8823 or cell (608) 669-5606
County Executive
Hiring Completes Transition from Coroner’s Office to Professional Medical Examiner
Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk announced today the county is hiring Vincent Tranchida to be Dane County’s first Medical Examiner/Forensic Pathologist.
The County Board and County Executive created the position of Medical Examiner this summer, culminating work started by former Dane County Coroners John Stanley and Ray Wosepka to convert the Office of Coroner into a Medical Examiner. Stanley and Wosepka championed having a Medical Examiner to ensure the important work of conducting death investigations and consoling families would be done with the utmost amount of professionalism. Prior to the county having a Medical Examiner, the Coroner’s position had been an elected position.
Tranchida comes to Dane County after serving the past six years as a Senior Medical Examiner in the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in New York City. There, he conducted autopsies for New York City and helped the New York Police Department determine the cause and manner of deaths in unknown cases.
“Vincent’s education and experience working in one of the busiest Medical Examiner’s Offices in the country make him the perfect choice to be Dane County’s first Medical Examiner,” County Executive Kathleen Falk said. “He knows how to both help families and work with law enforcement. He’s the right person to lead our hard-working team of Deputy Medical Examiners.”
Tranchida has extensive experience helping families bereaving the loss of loved ones and is a faculty instructor who teaches anatomy and forensic pathology to medical students. He earned his medical degree from the Wayne State University School of Medicine and completed his residency work in anatomic and clinical pathology at the University of Michigan Medical Center.
Pending contract approval by the county board, Tranchida’s starting salary will be $190,000 and his first day on the job will be February 1, 2011.