History of the Office of Chief Medical Examiner

The Office of Chief Medical Examiner of the City of New York (“OCME”) was established in 1918 pursuant to a 1915 Act of the New York State Legislature. In addition to being the first governmental agency of its type in the United States, OCME established the first toxicology laboratory in 1918 and the first serology laboratory in 1938, both at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.

In 1933, New York University established the first Department of Forensic Medicine in the country. Since that date, Medical Examiners at OCME have held faculty positions in NYU’s Forensic Medicine department.

OCME’s administrative offices were in the Municipal Building from 1918 to 1934, and at 125 Worth Street from 1934 to 1960; autopsies were performed at Bellevue Hospital and other borough municipal hospitals during those years. In 1960, OCME’s six-story headquarters at 520 First Avenue (northeast corner of First Avenue and 30th Street) opened on land provided by New York University, adjacent to NYU Medical Center.

In 1968 the Institute of Forensic Medicine of New York University and the City of New York was created; in 1977 the Institute was named after the late Milton Helpern, Chief Medical Examiner from 1954 to 1973. The Institute is comprised of OCME, the New York University School of Medicine, and the New York University College of Dentistry.

OCME’s headquarters at 520 First Avenue houses executive offices, the mortuary, autopsy rooms, X-Ray/photography facilities, as well as toxicology and histology laboratories.

In February 2007, OCME opened the OCME DNA Building located at 421 East 26 Street (east of First Avenue), which houses state of the art Forensic Biology laboratories, as well as OCME’s Administrative unit and Evidence facilities including a forensic garage to examine vehicles for forensic evidence.