Staff Information

​​Rebecca MacDougall, M.D. - Chief Medical Examiner

Broward County Office of M​​edical Examiner and Trauma Services

Dr. Rebecca MacDougall took over as Broward County's Chief Medical Examiner in July 2021. Born in Canada and raised in Texas, Dr. MacDougall received her Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from the University of Texas and earned her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

She completed a four-year residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at Texas Tech University Health Science Center in Lubbock, Texas and then completed a one-year Forensic Pathology Fellowship at Broward County's Office of Medical Examiner and Trauma Services. Upon completion of her fellowship, she remained in South Florida working as an Associate Medical Examiner and the Director of Medical Education until she became Chief Medical Examiner.

Dr. MacDougall holds board certifications in Forensic and Anatomic Pathology. Throughout her 11-year career in forensic pathology, Dr. MacDougall focused her passion for mentoring and educating physicians as the Director of Medical Education of the forensic pathology fellowship program as well as training EMS students, medical students, nurses, attorneys and law enforcement officers in Forensic Pathology and Medicolegal Death Investigation. She serves as an active member of the Child Fatality Review Team, Opioid Fatality Review Team and Trauma Services in Broward County.

As Broward County's Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. MacDougall is committed to expanding her service to the community by developing additional outreach and educational opportunities through the Office of Medical Examiner and Trauma Services.


​Darin P. Trelka, M.D., Ph.D., - ​Interim Deputy Chief Medical Examiner

Broward County Office of M​​edical Examiner and Trauma Services​

Darin P. Trelka, M.D., Ph.D., Interim Chief Deputy Medical Examiner, Broward County Medical Examiner and Trauma Services, grew up in western Pennsylvania and received a bachelor of arts in psychology from Washington and Jefferson College. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in anatomy, pathology and cell biology from Thomas Jefferson University and an M.D. from the Medical College of Pennsylvania-Hahnemann University School of Medicine. Dr. Trelka completed a residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center and a fellowship in forensic pathology at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is board certified in Anatomic- and Forensic Pathology and has worked as a medical examiner and coroner in Virginia, Ohio, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Florida. He has co-authored both an atlas of forensic histopathology as well as a textbook on infant and child death investigation. Dr. Trelka has also written textbook chapters in both forensic pathology and death investigation and has been an invited speaker on those topics both locally and nationally. Dr. Trelka served on the faculty at the Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine from 2014 until 2021 where he taught gross- and microscopic anatomy as well as pathology.​​