What to know
- The Collaborating Office for Medical Examiners and Coroners (COMEC) supports the work of professionals who conduct medical and legal (medicolegal) death investigations.
- Information from medicolegal death investigations is critical for public health.
- The COMEC website connects the medicolegal death investigation community with resources from across CDC.
Overview
Our nation's public health system relies on medical examiners and coroners for information about sudden, unexpected, and unexplained deaths. Public health professionals use information from medical and legal (medicolegal) death investigations (MDIs) to—
- Understand causes of death
- Monitor evolving health challenges
- Save lives
CDC's Collaborating Office for Medical Examiners and Coroners (COMEC) offers resources to help these professionals conduct MDIs. CDC created COMEC in 2022 to recognize the important role of MDIs in public health. COMEC also provides public health support for the people who conduct them.
Goals
COMEC works to—
- Strengthen coordination between the public health surveillance and MDI communities
- Promote quality and consistency in death investigations and death certifications
- Advance MDI data collection, automation, and information sharing
- Compile and analyze information about the people, services, and systems needed to conduct MDIs (MDI infrastructure)
- Facilitate information sharing within and between the public health and MDI communities
Partnerships
COMEC works with a variety of partners to help achieve our mission, including—
- State, district, and county MEs and coroners
- Professional associations of MEs, coroners, and other forensic sciences
- Public health and safety agencies
- Other federal partners
Contact us
● Ask questions about CDC programs and upcoming events
● Join our monthly mailing list
● Request SharePoint site access to archived webinar recordings and other resources
This website
The COMEC website brings together resources from across CDC. MEs and coroners can use this site as their single-entry point for accessing a wide range of information from CDC. We update the COMEC website when CDC develops new materials for MEs and coroners. We also make updates when we learn about existing materials not already featured here.
Visit these sections of our website to find CDC resources.
Death certification
Resources
Professional organizations and groups
- Federal Interagency Medicolegal Death Investigation Working Group (MDI-IWG)
- Medicolegal Death Investigation International Community of Practice
- State Medical Examiners and Coroners Organizations