Radiology-Pathology Center for Forensic Imaging (CFI)
CFI at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine is located within the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator (OMI), the centralized medical examiner’s office serving our state. The CFI is currently the only forensic center in the United States with in-house computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) facilities, which support forensic research and education, and the clinical service of the OMI.
Our Laboratory
The New Mexico Scientific Laboratories building houses the Center for Forensic Imaging (CFI).
UNM database first of its kind in the nation (KRQE TV)
UNM database of deceased people a national first (CARC)
Dr. Heather Edgar, forensic anthropologist at the University of New Mexico Office of Medical Investigator (OMI) and associate professor of anthropology, is currently converting a dataset of whole body decedent CT scans into a searchable database that will be available to researchers.
Natalie Adolphi elected Vice-Chair of ISFRI
In May 2018, Dr. Natalie Adolphi, Director of the Center for Forensic Imaging, was elected Vice-Chair of the International Society of Forensic Radiology and Imaging (ISFRI). Dr. Adolphi will Chair the 9th Annual Congress of the ISFRI, which will be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 14-16, 2020.
OMI seeks $1.4M for new CT Scanner (Albuquerque Journal)
In the 2019 legislative session, the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center is requesting $1.4 million in capital funding to replace the CT scanner at the New Mexico OMI, which has been used to scan more than 17,000 decedents since it was purchased in 2010.
Bodies of evidence: the quest to improve post-mortem imaging
The MRI methods that allow doctors to get detailed images of soft tissue in living patients don’t work as well in the forensic setting, after tissue cools and begins to decompose. Natalie Adolphi, a research faculty member at UNM, is leading a project, funded by the National Institute of Justice, to optimize MRI methods to improve imaging of post-mortem tissues.