Dr. LeRoy Riddick, clinical professor in the University of South Alabama department of pathology, was recently honored with the Milton Helpern Award.

The Milton Helpern Award, established in 1987 by the American Academy of Forensic Sciences distinguishes outstanding medical examiners across the nation. It honors the memory of Dr. Milton Helpern, who worked as chief executive medical examiner in New York for many years. Helpern personally supervised or performed more than 60,000 autopsies.

In addition to teaching at USA, Riddick currently leads the Mobile Laboratory of the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. Riddick also has an Alabama state laboratory named in his honor.

Riddick attended Princeton University and Columbia University before joining the U.S. Army. He completed his medical degree at the New Jersey College of Medicine and Dentistry, Newark, N.J. During his residency training at Cornell University in Manhattan, N.Y., Riddick found his calling as a medical examiner.

AAFS, established more than sixty years ago, is committed to the promotion of education and the elevation of accuracy, precision, and specificity in the forensic sciences.