This week's program

James Wilkerson M.D., the next Larimer County Coroner, will speak at the Estes Park Rotary Club at their regular noon Rotary meeting on Thursday, September 11th.  Dr. Wilkerson will discuss the Coroner’s Office and its responsibilities and function.  In addition, he will differentiate between a Coroner and a Medical Examiner, and he will review cause and manner of death and how the Coroner’s investigation varies from law enforcement.  

In January 2015, Dr. Wilkerson will assume his duties as Coroner for Larimer County, following in the footsteps of his partner Dr. Patrick Allen, who was Coroner since 1978.   After graduating from Birmingham Southern College, he received his medical degree from the University of Alabama while on a U.S. Army scholarship.  He completed his medical training in the Army, culminating with a prestigious Forensic Pathology Fellowship at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C..

While serving in the U.S. Army, he became Board Certified in Pathology, performed the duties of Regional Medical Examiner, and taught Forensic Pathology.  He has managed an Army hospital laboratory and been Chief of Staff at a community medical center. Currently, he is the official Weld County appointed Medical Examiner and was appointed to the Wyoming State Coroner’s Standards Board by the Governor of Wyoming.  He has conducted hundreds of death scene investigations and thousands of medico-legal autopsies.  He is a member of the National Association of Medical Examiners and the Colorado Medical Society, among others.