Biography
Dr Alfredo E Walker is a registered Forensic Pathologist of the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service based within its Eastern Ontario Regional Forensic Pathology Unit at the Ottawa Hospital General Campus. He holds an academic appointment of Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine and is both a Vice Chair and Director of Education.
Dr Walker is a medical graduate of the School of Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus, Trinidad and Tobago. He completed a residency Anatomical Pathology and fellowship in Forensic Pathology in the United Kingdom.
Prior to his current position, Dr Walker was a Consultant Forensic Pathologist in the Department of Forensic Pathology and Legal Medicine of the UK-government owned Forensic Science Service. He was on the Home Secretary’s Register of Forensic Pathologists in England and Wales for 4.5 years between 2006 and 2011 and earned the distinction of being the only person of Afro-Caribbean descent to that status since the establishment of the Register in 1991.
He is also a Visiting Lecturer in Forensic Pathology on the Master’s in Forensic Sciences programme of the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. He has continually supported the advancement of forensic medicine and science in the Caribbean region through delivery of a series of outreach training initiatives in many island states.
Over the years, he has mentored several students who have an interest in anatomical pathology and/or forensic pathology. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Pathology Club of the University of the West Indies (PCOUWI) in August 2020 and had set up Caribbean Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Student Initiative (CPALMSI) of the University of Ottawa to supports the activities of the PCOUWI. Dr Walker also functions as a resource person for pathologists who perform medicolegal postmortem examinations in Belize, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.
Dr Walker is a very active author who has written four chapters to date in forensic pathology textbooks and several articles in academic journals. He has been an invited speaker at many of the international conferences.
Internationally, he has provided expert medicolegal opinions on request for agencies in many jurisdictions. He is a Co-Chair of a 7-member international panel of experts that was appointed by the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Maryland, USA with responsibility for designing an audit of the Cause and Manner of Deaths determinations of all Deaths in Custody cases which were made during the tenure of Dr David Fowler, the immediate former Chief Medical Examiner for Baltimore, as a result of flawed testimony delivered in the murder trial related to the death of George Floyd.
Publications
- Fadel S, Walker AE. The Postmortem Interpretation of Cardiac Genetic Variants of Unknown Significance in Sudden Death in the Young: A Case Report and Review of the Literature. Acad Forensic Pathol 2020. https://doi.org/10.1177/1925362120984868
- Walker AE. The Adult Pancreas in Trauma and Disease. Acad Forensic Pathol. 2018 8(2):192-218.
- Wang C, Walker AE. Fatal Mitragynine-Associated Fatality in Canada: A Case Report and Review of the Literature. Acad Forensic Pathol. 2018 8(2): 340-346
- Walker AE, El Demellawy D, Davila J. Rickets – Historical, Epidemiological, Pathophysiological and Pathological Perspectives. Acad Forensic Pathol. 2017 7(2): 240-262.
- Rosso AE, Huyer D, Walker AE. Analysis of the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) cases in Ontario: Understanding the Patient Demographics of Case Uptake in Ontario since the Royal Assent and Amendments of Bill C-14 in Canada. Acad Forensic Pathol. 2017 7(2): 263-287.
- Walker AE, dos Santos M P, Gilkstein R, Michaud J. Fatal Entrapment of the Basilar Artery in a Longitudinal Fracture of the Clivus: A Case Report and Review of the Literature. Acad Forensic Pathol. 2017 7(3): 453-468
- Walker AE, Kepron C, Milroy CM. Are There Hallmarks of Child Abuse? I. Osseous Injuries. Acad Forensic Pathol. 2016 6(4): 568-590.
- Kepron C, Walker AE, Milroy CM. Are There Hallmarks of Child Abuse? II. Non-Osseous Injuries. Acad Forensic Pathol. 2016; 6(4): 591-607.
- Strickland S, Pena E, Walker AE. Fatal foreign-body granulomatous pulmonary embolization due to microcrystalline cellulose in a patient receiving total parenteral nutrition: all crystals are not what they seem. Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology, 2015; 11(2): 255-26.
Book Chapters
- Walker AE. Chapter 8: Forensic Pathology in Pathology Review and Practice Guide, 3rd edition. (ed Gao) 2021
- Walker AE and Mc Cleskey BC. Chapter 9: International Approaches to Pediatric Medicolegal Death Investigation. In Interpersonal Violence Against Children and Youth. Lexington Books, (Editor H Lim) 2022; ISBN 978-1-7936-1433-9 (Hardback); ISBN 978-1-7936-1434-6 (eBook).
- Walker AE. The Joint Forensic/Pediatric Postmortem Examination. In: The Investigation of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Eds: Cohen MC, Scheimberg I, Hauck F and Beckwith B. Cambridge University Press (Jun 2019). https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108186001
- Walker, AE and Milroy CM: Asphyxia. In Encyclopedia of Forensic and Legal Medicine, 2005; Payne-James, J, Editor-in-Chief