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SLO County hires first full-time forensic pathologist

Courtesy of SLO County Sheriff's Office
Dr. Joye Carter is a U.S. Air Force veteran.

The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office has hired its first full-time forensic pathologist. Dr. Joye M. Carter will relocate from the Houston, Texas area to San Luis Obispo to perform autopsies, medical inspections and medical record reviews mandated by the Sheriff-Coroner's Office.

According to a biography distributed Tuesday by the Sheriff's Office, Carter served as the chief medical examiner for the District of Columbia and Harris County, Texas, and was the first African American to be appointed as a chief medical examiner in the nation.

Carter graduated from Howard University College of Medicine and Ohio's Wittenberg University. She has self-published three books about her own life, self-help, and forensic pathology.

Carter's hiring comes after the Sheriff's Office opted not to renew a contract with Tulare County-based Dr. Gary Walter, who served as a part-time pathologist for the county for the past 12 years. Carter began work on Monday.