Famed Forensic Scientist Speaks at Baystate’s Pediatric Trauma Conference

HOLYOKE — One of the world’s foremost forensic scientists, Dr. Henry Lee, will speak at today’s Pediatric Trauma Conference, sponsored by Baystate Medical Center’s Pediatric Trauma, Division of Pediatric Surgery, and the Division of Trauma, Acute Care Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care, being held at the Log Cabin in Holyoke. Lee will speak about pediatric death.

Lee’s work has made him a landmark in modern-day forensic sciences. He has been a prominent player in many of the most challenging cases of the last 40 years. He has worked with law-enforcement agencies in helping to solve more than 6,000 cases. In recent years, his travels have taken him to England, Bosnia, China, Brunei, and other locations around the world.

His testimony figured prominently in the O.J. Simpson trial, and in convictions of the ‘woodchipper murderer,’ as well as hundreds of other murder cases. He has assisted local and state police in their investigations of other famous crimes, such as the murder of JonBenet Ramsey in Colorado, the 1993 suicide of White House Counsel Vincent Foster, and the reinvestigation of the Kennedy assassination.

Lee is currently chief emeritus for the Connecticut Department of Public Safety, Division of Scientific Services, was commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Safety for more than two years, and served as that state’s chief criminalist from 1979 to 2000. He was the driving force in establishing a modern State Police Forensic Science Laboratory in Connecticut.

Additional topics during today’s Baystate conference include distracted driving; the effects of pediatric trauma on parents, siblings, and healthcare workers; and school shootings, presented by FBI Special Agent Ian Smythe.