Judy Melinek

Melinek was born in Israel. Her father, a psychiatrist, served as a medic in the Yom Kippur War.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jweekly.com/2016/04/15/talking-with-a-doctor-whos-a-real-working-stiff/|title=Q&A: A doctor who's a real working stiff|last=Barnett|first=Sue|date=2016-04-15|website=J.|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-05}} Her mother was born in a Siberian refugee camp, and was a passenger on the Haganah boat Exodus. She lost members of her family in the Holocaust. She moved to the United States at the age of five. Melinek lost her father to suicide at the age of 13.{{Cite web|url=http://pathologyexpert.blogspot.com/|title=Forensic Pathology Forum|website=pathologyexpert.blogspot.com|access-date=2019-08-05}} She earned her bachelor's degree in biology at Harvard University, which she graduated magna cum laude in 1991.{{Cite web|url=https://www.studentdoctor.net/2014/10/22/20-questions-judy-melinek-md/|title=20 Questions: Judy Melinek, MD, Pathology • Student Doctor Network|date=2014-10-22|website=Student Doctor Network|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-05}} She moved to University of California, Los Angeles, where she studied medicine and trained as a resident in pathology.{{Cite web|url=https://medicalschoolhq.net/ss-24-what-is-forensic-pathology-dr-melinek-shares-her-story/|title=What is Forensic Pathology? Dr. Judy Melinek Shares Her Story|date=2017-05-24|website=Medical School Headquarters|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170601090500/https://medicalschoolhq.net/ss-24-what-is-forensic-pathology-dr-melinek-shares-her-story/|archive-date=2017-06-01|url-status=live}} She earned her Medical doctorate (MD) in 1996. She trained in both forensic pathology and neuropathology, supported by the American Board of Pathology. She also carried out an internship in surgery at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Melinek was working in the Medical Examiner's Office during the September 11 attacks.{{Cite web|url=https://coronertalk.com/drjudymelinek|title=Dr. Judy Melinek – Working Stiff|date=2015-05-03|website=Coroner Talk™|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-05}} She examined the remains of the World Trade Center and American Airlines Flight 587 crash.

In 2003 Melinek was appointed to the Santa Clara County Office of the Medical Examiner. She moved to the Office of the Chief medical examiner in San Francisco in 2004. Her first book, Working Stiff, is a memoir of her medical training in New York City.{{Cite web|url=http://www.pathologyexpert.com/working-stiff-book/|title=Working Stiff: The Making of a Medical Examiner {{!}} Pathology Expert|language=en|access-date=2019-08-05}} It appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list. Melinek is concerned about the shortage of forensic scientists in the United States.{{Cite web|url=https://www.medpagetoday.com/blogs/working-stiff/72803|title=Even Dead Patients Complain|date=2018-05-10|website=www.medpagetoday.com|language=en|access-date=2019-08-05}} Melinek works for the Wellington District Health Board in Wellington, NZ.

After the National Rifle Association of America called for doctors who want to reduce gun deaths to stay in their lane, Melinek tweeted "Do you have any idea how many bullets I pull out of corpses weekly? This isn’t just my lane. It’s my fucking highway".{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/09/nra-doctors-tweet-gun-control-deaths|title='Do you know how many bullets I pull out of corpses weekly?' – doctors to NRA|last=Ho|first=Vivian|date=2018-11-10|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-08-05|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/11/12/18087262/doctors-guns-thousand-oaks-nra|title="The NRA told doctors to ‘stay in your lane’ on guns. I’m a doctor. This is my lane."|last=Melinek|first=Dr Judy|date=2018-11-12|website=Vox|access-date=2019-08-05}}{{Citation|title=Judy Melinek Discusses the Role of Doctors in the Gun Debate {{!}} Season 2018 Episode 11/12/2018 {{!}} Amanpour and Company|url=https://video.wgbh.org/video/forensic-pathologist-dr-judy-melinek-b17n9w/|language=en|access-date=2019-08-05}} In an interview with The Guardian, Melinek said that she conducts one autopsy a week involving a victim of gun crime.

• {{Cite book|title=Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner|last=Melinek|first=Judy|publisher=Scribner|year=2015|isbn=1476727260|location=|pages=}}
• {{Cite book|title=First Cut|last=Melinek|first=Judy|publisher=HQ Fiction|year=2019|isbn=1489293116|location=|pages=}}
• {{Cite book|title=Aftershock|last=Melinek|first=Judy|publisher=HQ Fiction|year=2021|isbn=9781867221791|location=|pages=}}

Melinek has served as a consultant for ER and MythBusters. She appeared on Science Friday where she discussed working in a city morgue.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sciencefriday.com/person/judy-melinek/|title=Judy Melinek|website=Science Friday|language=en-US|access-date=2019-08-05}} She is on the editorial board of The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and Pathology.

Melinek is married to T. J. Mitchell, an American author and scriptwriter. Together they have three children.{{Cite web|url=https://www.simonandschuster.co.uk/authors/Judy-Melinek-MD/409546626|title=Judy Melinek, MD|website=Simon & Schuster|language=en|access-date=2019-08-05}} In July 2020, Melinek, her husband and two youngest children relocated to New Zealand.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12346829

|title=Covid-19 coronavirus: Author and pathologist Judy Melinek moves family to NZ to avoid Trump’s ‘disaster’|website=New Zealand Herald|language=en|access-date=2020-07-10}}

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Category:UCSF School of Medicine faculty

Category:David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA alumni

Category:Harvard College alumni

Category:1970 births

Category:Living people