Medical Examiners
Dr. Geoffrey Smith
Chief Medical Examiner
Dr. Geoffrey Smith earned his medical degree from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, graduating in 1984, and practicing primary care and emergency medicine. He emigrated to the United States in 1991, and from 1992-1995, undertook residency in Anatomic Pathology at Emory University Affiliated Hospitals.
Fellowship training in Forensic Pathology at the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office from 1995-1996 was followed by work as an Associate Medical Examiner/Deputy Chief Medical Examiner at the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office (1996-1997, 2004-2013), the Georgia Bureau of Investigation State Medical Examiner’s Office (1997-2004), and the Dekalb County Medical Examiner’s Office (2013-2022).
Dr. Smith is certified by the American Board of Pathology in Anatomic Pathology (1995) and Forensic Pathology (1997) and has a special interest in the education and training of Pathology resident and Fellows.
Dr. Lora Darrisaw
Director of Pediatric Forensic Pathology
Dr. Lora Darrisaw completed her undergraduate degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1985. She received her medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1995.
She completed her pathology residency at the Medical College of Wisconsin Affiliated Hospitals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1999. Dr. Darrisaw moved on to a fellowship in Pediatric Pathology at Texas Children's Hospital, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Following that, she finished another fellowship, this one in forensic pathology, at the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, GA in conjunction with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in 2002. Dr. Darrisaw joined the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Medical Examiner's Office as an associate medical examiner in 2002.
Dr. Darrisaw specializes in pediatric pathology and the evaluation of fatal and non-fatal pediatric injury.
Dr. Steven Atkinson
Associate Medical Examiner
Dr. Steven Atkinson completed his undergraduate degree from Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta, Georgia in 2000. He completed a residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. He also completed a forensic pathology fellowship at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Atkinson joined the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in 2008 as an associate medical examiner.
Dr. Michelle DiMarco
Associate Medical Examiner
Dr. Michelle DiMarco completed her undergraduate studies in biology at Florida State University in 2011 and acquired her medical doctorate from the Medical University of South Carolina in 2015. Following completion of an anatomic and clinical pathology residency at Emory University in 2019, she completed a pediatric pathology fellowship at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta/Emory University in 2020. A second fellowship in forensic pathology was completed with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation where she joined as an associate medical examiner in 2021.
Dr. Rachel Geller
Associate Medical Examiner, Forensic Pathology Fellowship Program Director
Dr. Rachel Geller received her undergraduate degree from the University of Virginia in 2005 and earned her Doctor of Medicine from Wake Forest University School of Medicine in 2013. She completed a residency in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology at Emory University in 2017, and then she completed a Forensic Pathology fellowship at the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office through Emory University in 2018. Dr. Geller was employed by the Fulton County Medial Examiner’s Office and the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office before joining the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as the Forensic Pathology Fellowship Director in May of 2022.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Geller was also employed by Emory University at Grady Hospital where she contributed to autopsy services and research. She continues to be affiliated with Emory University as an Adjunct Assistant Professor, providing instruction and training to Emory medical students and residents as a Forensic Pathology course director. The Forensic Pathology Fellowship at the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is offered in partnership with Medical College of Georgia Augusta University, where Dr. Geller is a Clinical Assistant Professor.
Dr. Natasha Grandhi
Associate Medical Examiner
Dr. Natasha Grandhi completed her undergraduate and medical school through the combined BS/MD program at Youngstown State University and Northeast Ohio Medical University in Ohio in 2010. She then completed her pathology residency at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland in 2014. She remained in Baltimore to complete her forensic pathology fellowship at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Maryland in 2015.
Dr. Grandhi joined the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in 2015 as an associate medical examiner.
Dr. Keith Lehman
Associate Medical Examiner
Dr. Keith Lehman graduated from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1989, and received his medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina in 1993. He went on to complete his residency in anatomic and clinical pathology at the University of North Carolina Hospitals in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1998. During this time, Dr. Lehman also completed a fellowship at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He then joined the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office for another fellowship, which ended in 1999.
Dr. Lehman joined the staff of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Medical Examiner's Office in 1999 as an associate medical examiner.
Dr. Rochelle Simon
Associate Medical Examiner
Dr. Rochelle Simon received her undergraduate degree from Florida State University in 2000 and her medical degree from Howard University in Washington, DC in 2004.
She completed an anatomic and clinical pathology residency at the University of Rochester Medical Center in 2008, and a gynecologic and breast pathology fellowship at Brown University in 2010. She completed a forensic pathology fellowship at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the State of Maryland in 2019, where she was subsequently employed as an assistant medical examiner.
Dr. Simon joined the Georgia Bureau of Investigation as an associate medical examiner in 2020.
Dr. Sandra Reynolds
Associate Medical Examiner
Dr. Reynolds received her undergraduate degree in biology from Lander University in Greenwood, SC in 1999 and earned her medical degree from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in 2004. She completed her anatomic and clinical pathology residency at East Carolina University in 2008. Dr. Reynolds then completed a one year fellowship in Forensic Pathology at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, VA.
Dr. Reynolds was employed as an Associate Medical Examiner by Forensic Medical in Nashville, TN before joining the GBI in 2014.