Lifetime Achievement Award

Dr. Marcella A. Fierro

Dr. Marcella A. Fierro
In 1994, Dr. Marcella Fierro was appointed chief medical examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Dr. Fierro’s skill and dedication inspired mystery writer Patricia Cornwell to write a series of crime novels in which the protagonist, Kay Scarpetta, was modeled after Dr. Fierro.

Dr. Fierro has been a consultant to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Task Force on National Crime Investigation Center, Unidentified Persons and Missing Persons Files, Washington, DC, since 1983, and has served on the board of editors and been a reviewer for The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology since 1979.

Dr. Fierro’s impressive and longstanding tenure in medical pathology has helped solve numerous crimes throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia. By offering her medical expertise, Dr. Fierro has been instrumental in helping the Memorial Fund review hundreds of cases of fallen officers. She has provided the Memorial Fund medical counsel for nearly two decades and assisted the Board of Director’s Names Committee in navigating complex medical issues brought before them.