This year's sixth annual Robert M. Brissie Memorial Lecture, sponsored by the Department of Pathology and the Alabama Eye Bank, featured Laura D. Knight, M.D., Chief Medical Examiner and Coroner of the Washoe County, Nevada Regional Medical Examiner's Office. This lecture took place on Thursday, December 12 in the West Pavilion Conference Center.

From left to right: Dr. Bob Phillips, ophthamologist and corneal transplant surgeon on the Board of Trustees for Advancing Sight, Dr. Laura Knight, chief forensic pathologist and Brissie Lecturer, and Alan Blake, President and CEO of Advancing Sight.

Knight's talk, titled, "Optimizing Medical Examiner/Coroner Cooperation with Organ and Tissue Donation," highlighted research in forensic pathology as it relates to other disciplines such as radiology, genetic testing, sudden unexplained death in epilepsy (SUDP), etc. 

 From left to right: Dr. Bob Phillips, Dr. Laura Knight, Alan Blake, and Kyle Mavin, Chief Clinical Officer of Advancing Sight. From left to right: Dr. Greg Davis, forensic pathologist and Director of the Forensic Division and Chief Coroner/Medical Examiner for Jefferson County, Dr. Bob Phillips, Dr. Laura Knight, and Alan Blake.

Knight received her M.D. from the University of Louisville School of Medicine, completed her residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at the Medical University of South Carolina, and completed her fellowship in forensic pathology at the Office of Medical Investigator at the University of New Mexico. Knight has published various educational modules, book chapters, and journal articles on forensic pathology and pediatric forensic pathology. Dr. Knight serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Medical Examiners and she is an editorial board member of the medical journal Academic Forensic Pathology.

Last year, Dr. Knight received the April 2018 award from the Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO). Knight earned the award for her development of a tissue and cornea donation program at the Washoe County Regional Medical Examiner's Office which grant patients life-saving tissue and cornea transplants.

By Hannah Weems