April 9, 2014
Dr. John Filippi, a Dentist, Forensic Odontologist and member of DMORT, came to engage students and educate them on the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) that he was worked with since 1981.
Filippi explained that DMORT is a federal team of subject-matter experts called in at mass disasters and is one type of team sponsored by the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS). There are 10 regional teams and Filippi represents region 7 (Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and Iowa). The teams are made up of several experts including but not limited to: medical examiners, forensic pathologists, forensic anthropologists, fingerprint specialists, odontologists and funeral directors.
Dr. Filippi indicated how identifications are made through comparisons of antemortem records (dental, fingerprint, etc.) and postmortem remains and noted how important it is that the different forensic sciences interact well with each other to help develop multiple points of concordance for the identification. More…