Dr Alfredo E Walker is a registered category A (forensic) pathologist of the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service who is based within its Eastern Ontario Regional Forensic Pathology Unit at the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa Hospital General Campus, Ottawa, Canada.

Prior to his current position 12 years ago, he was a Consultant Forensic Pathologist employed by the internationally renowned former UK government-owned Forensic Science Service Ltd, based at the Medicolegal Centre, Watery Street, Sheffield, England whilst being a registered Consultant Forensic Pathologist to the British Home Office (aka Consultant Home Office Pathologist). He was on the Home Secretary’s Register of Forensic Pathologists in England and Wales for 4.5 years and has the distinction of being the only Black person to attain this status.

He is a medical graduate of the School of Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, University of the West Indies, St Augustine campus, Class of 1996. He pursued postgraduate training in Anatomical Pathology and subspecialty training Forensic Pathology in the UK, the latter funded by the British Home Office. He attained Fellowship of the Royal College of Pathologists of the United Kingdom and the Diploma in Medical Jurisprudence by examination. He holds professional memberships of the UK Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine, Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences, and the US National Association of Medical Examiners.

He was the Founding President of the Caribbean Association of Forensic Sciences, the first regional professional organization of its kind in the region. He also spearheaded the development of the Caribbean Medicolegal Society and has been the convenor and programme director for its annual Caribbean Medicolegal and Forensic Symposium.

Since 2012, Dr Walker has been a Visiting Lecturer in Forensic Pathology on the postgraduate Master’s in Forensic Sciences programme at the UWI Mona campus. He has continually supported the advancement of forensic medicine and science in the Caribbean region by planning and hosting a series of outreach training initiatives for medicolegal practitioners in Barbados (2023), Belize (2018 and 2019), St Lucia (2018, 2019), St Vincent and the Grenadines (2016-2018), Jamaica (2016), the Cayman Islands (2012) and Trinidad and Tobago (2012). He has been an invited lecturer to the Judiciary of Trinidad and Tobago, the Office of the Public Defender and the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad and Tobago. He acts as a resource person for pathologists who perform medicolegal postmortem examinations in Antigua, Belize, St Lucia, St Vincent & the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

Over the years, he has mentored several undergraduate medical students and postgraduate medical doctors who possess an interest in anatomical pathology and/or forensic pathology. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Pathology Club of the University of the West Indies (2020) and the Caribbean Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Student Initiative (CPALMSI) of the University of Ottawa/EORLA that supports the club’s activities.

On September 24, 2022, he received the Hummingbird Medal Gold from the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago for his “loyal and dedicated service” to forensic pathology throughout the Caribbean region and Trinidad and Tobago.

The Canadian Chapter of the UWI Medical Alumni Association conferred Dr Walker with its “Distinguished Service Award in recognition of his exceptional service in National and International Forensic Pathology Care and Advancement” on December 18, 2022.

On October 28, 2023, Dr Walker was honoured by the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada “in acknowledgement of his numerous achievements, accolades, reputation and mentorship” in forensic pathology.

In September 2021, he was appointed member and Co-Chair of an international team of seven experts by the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Maryland, USA to design an audit for the review of deaths in custody cases overseen by Dr David Fowler, former Chief Medical Examiner for Baltimore, in response to complaints received about the testimony given by Dr Fowler as a defence expert in the George Floyd murder trial.

He is Member of the Advisory Council of Physicians for Human Rights and the Advisory Board of the Medicolegal Death Investigation Internationally Community of Practice.

On the academic front, Dr Walker has been a very active author in the peer-reviewed forensic pathology literature. He has written four chapters in forensic pathology textbooks. He is a regular invited reviewer of manuscripts submitted to academic journals for consideration of publication and an invited speaker at many of the larger international and regional conferences and meetings in forensic pathology and science.