July 2010 Presenter Biographies

Paul V. Benson (M. D.)
Assistant Chief Medical Examiner, Virginia State Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Western District.   Dr. Benson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Wheeling Jesuit College in 1994.  He subsequently attended medical school at The Medical College of Ohio at Toledo, where he earned his Doctor of Medicine degree.  From 1999-2000, he completed an internship in Internal Medicine at the University of Maryland Medical System in Baltimore, Maryland.  From 2000 until 2005, he attended residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at the University of Vermont (1 year) and University of Virginia (3 years).  While a resident at the University of Virginia, he was appointed as Medical Examiner for Charlottesville City, and Albemarle County in 2002.  Under the directorship of Dr. Marcella Fierro, he completed a fellowship in Forensic Pathology at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia, in 2006.  He is certified by the American Board of Pathology in Anatomic, Clinical and Forensic Pathology.  From 2006 – 2008 he was Assistant Professor at the Upper East Tennessee Forensic Center, located at East Tennessee State University.  He has been one of the three Assistant Chief Medical Examiners for the Western District of Virginia since June of 2008.  His experience includes testifying in approximately 40 criminal cases and performing around 1000 autopsies.

Donna C. Boyd (Ph. D., D-ABFA)
Professor and Head of Anthropological Sciences; Co-Director, Radford University Forensic Science Institute; adjunct member, Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Western District.  Dr. Boyd received her Ph. D. from the University of Tennessee in Anthropology and is a Board-Certified Forensic Anthropologist who has taught at Radford University for 20 years.  She recently (2006) received the Carnegie/CASE U. S . Professor of the Year award as well as the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia’s Outstanding Professor of the Year award.  In consultation with the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, she has completed over 50 forensic cases  and  is assisting this office with their NIJ grant “Using DNA to Identify the Missing” (cold cases).  She also regularly accepts cases involving the identification and analysis of prehistoric and historic human remains. Her current research focus includes the effect of perimortem trauma on decomposition and Time Since Death as well as the skeletal signatures of slavery in historic Virginia populations.  Dr. Boyd is a Fellow in the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and also a Squad Leader in DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team) Region III with the United States Department of Health and Human Services (National  Disaster Medical System), recently completing a search, recovery, and identification mission to Haiti.  She, along with her husband, received a two year grant in 2009 from NIJ to sponsor a series of workshops entitled “Innovations in Forensic Science.”

C. Clifford (Cliff) Boyd (Ph. D.)
Professor of Anthropological Sciences; Co-Director, Radford University Forensic Science Institute; adjunct member, Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Western District.  Dr. Boyd received his Ph. D. in Anthropology (Archaeology) from the University of Tennessee and is an Archaeologist (specializing in Forensic Archaeology) who has taught at Radford University for over 24 years.  He recently (2008) received the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia’s Outstanding Professor of the Year award.  In conjunction with his wife, he has completed over 50 forensic cases in consultation with the Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and regularly conducts training workshops for law enforcement in Search, Recovery and Excavation of covert burials.  He also conducts field investigations of prehistoric and historic archaeological sites for cultural resource management interests.  His current research focus is the application of archaeological and anthropological theory to Forensic Anthropology. He is an Associate Member of the American Association of Forensic Sciences (Physical Anthropology section).

Tod Burke (Ph. D.)
Professor of Criminal Justice, Radford University.  Dr. Burke received his Master’s in Forensic Science from George Washington University in 1984, and his Master’s in Philosophy and Ph. D. in Criminal Justice from City University of New York/John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 1990 and 1991, respectively.  Dr. Burke is a specialist in Homicide Investigations and is regularly called upon to speak on the topic of Violent Crimes.  He has taught at Radford University since 1995.

Diane Catley (M. F. S.)
Forensic Science Group Supervisor, Virginia Department of Forensic Science, Western District, Roanoke, Virginia.  Ms. Catley received a Master’s in Forensic Science from George Washington University in 1983 and has been a forensic scientist with the Virginia Department of Forensic Science for over 14 years, specializing in Controlled Substances.  She is a Certified Technical Advisor for ASCLAD-LAB.  She served as an Instructor for the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine (for post-graduate Fellows in drug analysis) in 2006 and an Instructor of Forensic Chemistry at Radford University from 1989 – 1995. She is a member of the Mid-Atlantic Association of Forensic Scientists and the CLIC-Clandestine Laboratory Investigating Chemists Association.

Emil Moldovan (M. S., M. P. A.)
Adjunct Instructor, Department of Criminal Justice, Radford University.  Mr. Moldovan  received his Master of Public Administration degree from California State University Northridge and his Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice from California State University, Los  Angeles.  He received certification in Medical Investigation (Level III) from the American College of Forensic Examiners and is a Diplomat of the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators and the College of Forensic Examiners Institute.  He served as a Police Officer with the Arcadia, California, police force from 1975 – 1989, as a supervisor with the Los Angeles County Fire Department from 1989 – 1999, and as a Lieutenant (Supervising Coroner Investigator) with the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner/Coroner from 1999 to 2006. Mr. Moldovan has specialized training in the Incident Command System, Homeland Security Terrorism, Fire/Arson Fatality Fire Scene Investigation, FBI Violent Crime Analysis, and Grief Management.  As a member (and training officer) of DMORT Region IX, he assisted with recoveries associated with Alaska Airlines Flight #261, the New York World Trade Center, and most recently Hurricane Katrina.  Mr. Moldovan has taught classes in Forensic Science at the Los Angeles Police Academy, Rancho Santiago Community College, and ITT Technical Institute; he has taught courses in Forensic Science (including Death Investigation) at Radford University since 2007.

Douglas Owsley (Ph. D.)
Division Head of Physical Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution Museum of Natural History.  Dr. Doug Owsley received his Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of Wyoming in 1973 and his Ph. D. in Physical Anthropology from the University of Tennessee in 1978. In 1987, Dr. Owsley joined the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History as a curator, served since 1990 as the Division Head for Physical Anthropology. Dr. Owsley is engaged in forensic anthropology case work, assisting state and federal law enforcement agencies. Cases have included Jeffrey Dahmer’s first victim, recovery and identification of Waco Branch Davidian compound members, the 9-11 Pentagon Plane crash, and exhumation and identification of war dead from the former Yugoslavia.   His bioarchaeological and osteological research concerns include: ancient American skeletons like Kennewick Man and the peopling of the New World; demography and health of 17th-century colonists; Civil War military remains including the crew of the H.L. Hunley submarine; iron coffin burials; and analyses of activity patterns, health and diseases of American Indian populations from the Plains and Southwest.   His current research is focused on human skeletal remains from the 17th-century Chesapeake region of Virginia and Maryland. The results of this research are presented to the public in an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History entitled “Written in Bone: Forensic Files of the 17th-Century Chesapeake.” Dr. Owsley is co-curator of the exhibition which continues through February 6, 2011.

Kevin Patrick (B. S.)
Director, Virginia Department of Forensic Science, Western Laboratory.  Mr. Patrick received his Bachelor of Science degree in Criminalistics from Weber State University, Ogden, Utah and has been director of the Virginia Department of Forensic Science, Western, since 2004.  Prior to this, he was Supervising Criminalist (Identification Section and Serology) of the Utah State Crime Lab, overseeing operations of the Latent Fingerprint, Questioned Documents, Evidence, Firearms, Photography, Bloodstain Pattern and Crime Scene Response units of the laboratory.  Also in Utah, he served as Director of the Utah Crime Scene Academy and Team Leader of the Utah State Crime Scene Response Team.  He has specialized training in Latent Fingerprints/Impressions, Bloodstain Pattern, Crime Scene Photography, Forensic Biology, and Trace Evidence. He is a Certified Bloodstain Pattern Analyst (International Association for Identification), Certified Footwear Examiner (International Association for Identification) and is a member of the Certified D. E. A./U. D. I. Clandestine Laboratory Response Team as well as a Delegate to the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors.  He received the Commissioner’s Commendation in 2002-2003.

Jon Perry (M. A.)
Jon Perry received his bachelor’s degree from Central Missouri State University in 1973 and his Master’s degree from the University of Missouri in 1975.  In 1988, Jon completed a one year fellowship at the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, FBI Academy, where he studied “psychological profiling.” Jon Perry came to the Virginia State Police, where he retired after 12 years of service as a Criminal Investigative Analyst.  Prior to that, Jon was with the Kansas City, Missouri Police Dept. where he retired, in 1993, after 25 years of service.  During the last five years with Kansas City, Jon worked as a Criminal Investigative Analyst where he not only profiled cases within his own organization, but also provided profiles and training on unsolved homicides and sex crimes across the states of Kansas and Missouri.  While with the Virginia State Police and the Kansas City, Mo. Police Dept., his duties included profiling unknown offenders of violent crime, conducting threat assessments, and providing crisis negotiations, along with instructing homicide investigation, sex crimes investigation and crisis negotiation.  Over Jon’s career, he has been the primary negotiator in over ninety barricade situations.  Jon has instructed at the following institutions:  the National Academy (housed at the FBI Academy), Ottawa University, Central Missouri State University, Longview Community College, Penn Valley Community College, University of Missouri, Bluefield College, and Radford University.  In addition, Jon has instructed for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Netherlands National Police, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) in Okinawa, Japan and the New South Wales Police Dept. in Sydney, Australia.  Jon is currently adjunct faculty at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke, VA and with Roanoke College in Salem, Va.

Robert Sheehy (Ph. D.)
Professor of Biology, Radford University.  Bob received his B.S. in Biology from Eastern Oregon State College, and his Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of Arizona. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Molecular Systematics and Evolution at the University of Arizona before becoming a faculty member at Radford University in 1996.  Bob’s research interests include the effects of life histories and landscape on gene flow in Plethodontid salamanders, the phylogeny of the Falconiformes, and wildlife forensics.  Bob teaches courses in Genetics, Evolutionary Biology, Bioinformatics, Molecular Ecology, Conservation Biology and Ornithology, and Molecular Forensic Biology.

Amy Tharp (M. D.)
Assistant Chief Medical Examiner, Virginia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Western District.  Dr. Tharp received her B. A. degree in Zoology from Miami University in Ohio and her Doctor of Medicine degree from New York Medical College.  She completed her residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology as well as a Forensic Fellowship at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.   She is certified by the American Board of Pathology in Anatomic and Forensic Pathology.   Dr. Tharp has served as a Resident Teacher for second year medical school pathology courses at Wake Forest University Medical School  as well as a committee member of the Prescription Monitoring Program of the Commonwealth of Virginia.  She is a member of the National Association of Medical Examiners (NAME), the American Academy of Forensic Science, the American Society for Clinical Pathologists, and the American Medical Association.  Her research interests include the differentiation of sharp force and blunt force trauma

Prem Uppuluri (Ph. D.)
Assistant Professor, Radford University Department of Information Technology.  Dr. Uppuluri received his M. S. in Computer Science from Iowa State University and his Ph. D. in Computer Science from Stony Brook University, New York.  He has taught courses in  Computer Science and Digital Forensics at Radford University since 2006; previous to this, he was an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at the University of Missouri and worked for Telcordia Technologies (formerly BellCore) in New Jersey.  His research specialty is Computer Security and Digital Forensics.