Chief Medical Examiner
Dr. Ariel Goldschmidt
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Dr. Ariel Goldschmidt began his career as a forensic pathologist in St. Louis in a 2008. He has performed over 4,000 postmortem examinations during a career spanning decades and four different states. A native of Pittsburgh, Dr. Goldschmidt returned to Allegheny County in 2021 to serve as Deputy Medical Examiner. He was appointed Acting Medical Examiner in February 2024 following the retirement of Dr. Karl E Williams. In April 2024, he was named as the Chief Medical Examiner for Allegheny County.
Dr. Goldschmidt’s attraction to Forensic Science began in medical school, when he realized that the field of Pathology was one of the few subspecialties in medicine in which a practitioner must apply scientific reasoning using depth of knowledge of every functional organ system. As Medical Examiner, Dr. Goldschmidt has oversight of a team of forensic pathologists, as well as the full-service Crime Laboratories of Allegheny County. Dr. Goldschmidt believes independence, compassion, and uncompromised integrity are paramount to the success of a Forensic Office.
A graduate of Taylor Allderdice high school, Dr. Goldschmidt attended the Pennsylvania State University in State College, PA and Jefferson (now Sidney Kimmel) Medical College in Philadelphia, PA as part of a prestigious, accelerated 6 year premedical/medical degree program. He performed an Anatomic and Clinical Pathology residency and Surgical Pathology fellowship at the Washington University in St. Louis under the tutelage of renowned pathologist Dr. Louis Dehner, followed by a Forensic Pathology fellowship at St. Louis University under the mentorship of Drs. Jane Turner and Michael Graham.
Dr. Goldschmidt obtained Board Certification in Anatomic, Clinical, and Forensic Pathology in 2008. He is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and fellow of the National Association of Medical Examiners. His participation in those organizations has included multiple committee memberships and presentations at national conferences.
As an Assistant Medical Examiner in Cook County (Chicago) IL, Dr. Goldschmidt performed postmortem examinations on many victims of gang violence. During his tenure as the Acting Chief Medical Examiner for the Rhode Island State Medical Examiner’s Office, Dr. Goldschmidt strengthened the Office’s ties with Brown University and oversaw the national accreditation of the Office by NAME. Under the direction of the Department of Health, he sharpened the State’s response to the opioid crisis, and actively participated in its response to the Covid-19 crisis. In 2023, Dr. Goldschmidt was asked to join a volunteer team of four U.S. forensic pathologists to Israel to assist with the identification of mass casualties of the October 7, 2023 attacks.
In his “second career,” Dr. Goldschmidt partners with his wife to raise three rambunctious boys in Squirrel Hill.