Target Audience

Des Moines University faculty, staff, and students.

Learning Objectives

• Identify existing and expanding definitions of advocacy.
• Understand the traditional roles of forensic science and forensic medicine in advocacy.
• Explore opportunities for advancing the advocacy of forensic science and medicine.

Speaker

Vicki L. Wedel, PhD
Associate Professor Medical Anatomical Sciences, Western University of Health Sciences

Dr. Wedel conduct's scientific research to validate new methods for determining the age- and season-at-death of individuals in forensic cases. She also collaborates with federal, state, and local agencies in the identification of human remains. Recently she has begun to use her research on the biological effects of emancipation, her Native American ancestry, and in her position as a founding member of Western U's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Council as a launching point to investigate how to frame her work as advocacy.