Since becoming Los Angeles County’s first Black chief medical examiner in 2023, Dr. Odey Ukpo has led an understaffed department in its effort to regain national accreditation while focusing on strengthening the agency’s ties to the community.

One of his goals, Ukpo said, is to make information about heat-related deaths, drug-related deaths and deaths among the unhoused readily available.

“I think that we need to grow our voice and concerns about deaths that have happened in the community versus others speaking for us through our data,” Ukpo said. 

If the public were equipped with that knowledge, Ukpo believes more lives could be saved.

“I’m saying this person is part of this community,” Ukpo said. “What are the patterns that we’re seeing here that we can inform the public (about) that can predict this death?”

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors officially appointed Ukpo as head medical examiner in March 2023 after serving as the office’s medical director. 

Ukpo first joined the department as senior deputy medical examiner in 2014 and quickly stood out due to his expertise with new forensic techniques.

“Coming here, I had that experience of working with the CT scan that had not yet arrived here in Los Angeles,” he said. “I was tasked to bring forth that new technology to the department.”

His appointment as head examiner was a promotion he was not expecting.

“It all came as a surprise to me,” Ukpo said. “I never pictured myself in this role.”

Ukpo said his career in determining causes of death was inspired by Hollywood portrayals, some of which are recorded in the offices where he now works.

“I always appreciated the image of the homicide detective at the scene, looking like the calm person (and) processing everything,” Ukpo said.

The medical examiner’s office investigates the circumstances, manner and cause of unnatural deaths, including suspected homicide, suicide or accidental death. 

At the time of his appointment, Ukpo would oversee a department of 260 staff, a budget of nearly $50 million and handle over 13,000 cases per year, according to the medical examiner’s office. 

He earned his medical degree from Loyola University Chicago and completed his Forensic Pathology Fellowship at the Office of the Medical Examiner in Albuquerque, New Mexico.