Boston University Medical Campus
Forensic Anthropology

It is our pleasure to announce that the first student, Peter Colleran, has graduated from the Forensic Anthropology Program. Peter transferred to our program from the Biomedical Forensic Sciences program at Boston University School of Medicine and was an exceptional student who excelled in all of our classes and demonstrated tremendous leadership. His thesis research, “Decomposition in Water: The Effects of Climate on the Rate of Decay in New England” was presented at the American Academy of Forensic Science annual meeting in February and was the first research project completed at our outdoor research facility. Congratulations Peter!

We are very pleased to announce that our Forensic Anthropologist, Dr. Debra Prince-Zinni, has received her Diplomate Certification from the American Board of Forensic Anthropology.

The American Board of Forensic Anthropology is a non-profit organization that provides a program of certification in forensic anthropology similar to  certifying boards in medicine and other scientific fields. Diplomates of the ABFA are uniquely qualified in forensic anthropology and have demonstrated an extraordinary professional record of education, training, experience, and achievement.  Diplomate status with the ABFA denotes the highest achievement in the field of forensic anthropology and certification requires completion of a rigorous examination. Dr. Prince-Zinni is the 85th Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Anthropology. This is truly a momentous achievement and we are privileged and honored to have Dr. Prince-Zinni as a faculty member, instructor and mentor in our program in Forensic Anthropology.

Franklin Damann is the curator of the AFIP National Museum of Health and Medicine Anatomical Division in Washington, DC.  As curator, he has oversight of the Anatomical and Neuroanatomical collections at the museum.
Mr. Damann holds a master’s degree in physical and forensic anthropology from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in physical and forensic anthropology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. His dissertation research involves human decomposition ecology.
Prior to his current position at the AFIP NMHM, Mr. Damann served as a forensic anthropologist for the Department of Defense Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command Central Identification Laboratory located at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii.

Dr. Peter Cummings is a Forensic Pathologist and Staff Medical Examiner at Massachusetts Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.  He is Board certified in Anatomic Pathology and Neuropathology and is the Director of the Neuropathology Service at the OCME.
Dr. Cummings has taught at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and at the University of Maine.  Dr. Cummings was a NASA astronaut candidate finalist for 2009 and maintains an active research position investigating the effects of cosmic radiation on astrocyte activation and response of retinal glial cells to space flight. In addition, he also conducts research investigating the forensic implications of pediatric head trauma.
Dr. Cummings was a member of the identification teams for the World Trade Center and the SwissAir crash.

Elizabeth LaPosata, an Adjunct Faculty member in the Biomedical Forensic Sciences and Forensic Anthropology programs, was the subject of a featured article in BU Today.

The program in Forensic Anthropology hosted the Evidence Response Team Advanced Training Course in “Processing of Human Remains”  for the Federal Bureau of Investigation April 14- April 16th, 2009.

This course provided instruction by three scientists from the FBI Latent Print Unit and Disaster Squad to several agents. Topics included fingerprint identification, post-mortem fingerprint techniques, and reconditioning and processing techniques of human remains.

Welcome to our Newest Faculty Member: Dr. Debra Prince

Dr. Prince, a forensic anthropologist, has joined our faculty as an Assistant Professor.  She will be teaching courses in Forensic Anthropology and will serve as a major thesis advisor to many of our students.

Dr. Prince joins the Forensic Anthropology program after serving as a Forensic Anthropologist at the Joint/POW MIA Accounting Command’s Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii for the past four and a half years.

Please see our faculty page for more information!