Dr. Ponni Arunkumar

A key player in the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office earning national accreditation again has been tapped to lead the department.

Dr. Ponni Arunkumar had been serving an interim chief medical examiner since June when former

Chief ME Stephen Cina resigned.

Cook County Board members last week approved Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s recommendation of Arunkumar for the position. Prior to being interim chief, Arunkumar had been deputy chief medical examiner since 2012.

“I am honored to be named chief medical examiner for Cook County and I would like to thank President Preckwinkle and the Cook County Board of Commissioners,” Arunkumar said. “The office has made great progress under previous leadership and I will continue to make sure the office continues to make strides while serving the residents of the county.”

The Medical Examiner’s Office regained accreditation from the National Association of Medical Examiners this year and Arunkumar is credited with much of that success.

“Dr. Arunkumar has been a leader at the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office and played an instrumental role in the office receiving national accreditation earlier this year.” Preckwinkle said. “Dr. Arunkumar is committed to the Medical Examiner’s Office, its staff, our county and its residents; and I am proud to appoint her as our chief medical examiner.”

Arunkumar has a five-year appointment to the post. She has been with the department for 16 years.

“Dr. Arunkumar was Dr. Cina’s right-hand person and was recognized publicly by Dr. Cina,” said Dr. Enrique Beckmann, chairman of the Medical Examiner’s Advisory Committee. “… With her, there has been progress. The office will continue to move forward.”

Arunkumar has a long affiliation with the county and the ME’s Office. In 1999, she began an anatomic and clinical pathology residency program at what was then known as Cook County Hospital (now John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County). She went on to a fellowship at the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office and then was hired as an assistant medical examiner in 2004.

In 2012, Cina vowed the office would regain accreditation from NAME. The county morgue had lost its accreditation in 2011 under longtime Medical Examiner Nancy L. Jones when images of dozens of cadavers stacked in the overcrowded cooler surfaced. The ME’s Office was also cited for mismanagement and outdated equipment and procedures, including still using paper ledgers.

Preckwinkle replaced Jones with Cina, and by 2014, the office had received provisional accreditation after addressing many of the 27 deficiencies that NAME had listed.

Arunkumar was the point person during the NAME accreditation process and ensured that the new policies and procedures required by the agency were implemented. This year marked the first year since 2011 that the Medical Examiner’s Office was accredited.

“I am quite pleased to have Dr. Arunkumar as chief medical examiner,” said funeral director Mark Rizzo, another member of the Medical Examiner’s Advisory Committee.

Rizzo said the County Board’s support for Arunkumar and the office was in stark contrast to the outrage shown on the board back in 2011. That change, he said, goes in part to Arunkumar’s efforts.

“It was a 180-degree switch …” Rizzo said of the County Board’s discussion of the new chief medical examiner. “It was nothing but compliments.

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