title
PROPOSED REAPPOINTMENT
Appointee(s): Dr. Ponni Arunkumar
Position: Chief Medical Examiner
Department/Board/Commission: Office of the Medical Examiner of Cook County
Effective date: Immediately Upon Approval
Expiration date: Five (5) years from date of approval
Summary: Dr. Ponni Arunkumar is a board-certified anatomic and clinical pathologist with specialized expertise in forensic pathology. She serves as the Chief Medical Examiner for the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office, where she provides strategic leadership and oversees the nation’s second-largest medical examiner operation. With 22 years of comprehensive forensic pathology experience, Dr. Arunkumar has directed and conducted thousands of postmortem examinations and has offered expert testimony in more than 200 judicial proceedings, including both trial and deposition settings.
Dr. Arunkumar holds faculty appointments at RUSH University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Northwestern University, where she contributes to the training of future physicians and forensic scientists. She has presented her work at national conferences and has authored multiple publications advancing the field of forensic pathology.
She is an active member of several leading professional organizations, including the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the National Association of Medical Examiners, the College of American Pathologists, and the American Society for Clinical Pathology. She currently serves as Vice President of the National Association of Medical Examiners, reflecting her national leadership and commitment to excellence in medicolegal death investigation.
end