Kelly Lear MD for Coroner

31/05/2023

🥞💀🐛

It’s that time again - actually we are early this year, so don’t miss it! Join us at our biggest event of the year -- the Open House and Free Pancake Breakfast!

We will have coroner’s office tours (they fill up quickly), bone identification, and everybody’s favorite maggot art! Plus many activities and demonstrations by the Sheriff’s Office, including their therapy dogs (which might be cuter than the maggots).

June 3rd from 8am-Noon.
13101 E. Broncos Parkway
Centennial

25/01/2023

Lisa is so appreciated; I can’t imagine doing this work without her support of me, the office, our community partners, and the families we serve!

Lisa is an Office Administrator in the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office. In her role she does everything from budgeting to managing staff, but a big part of her job lies outside of her job description. Lisa is a liaison between the Coroner, Forensic Pathologist and grieving families. She helps explain the processes of the investigation and often lends an empathetic ear. “I feel that the way I help people in my job is to work with families and loved ones suffering the emotional trauma of an unexpected death.”

10/01/2023

Proud of our continued national accreditation (one of only four accredited coroner’s offices in Colorado) as a testament to our commitment to providing the highest quality medicolegal death investigations.

Congratulations to the Arapahoe County Coroner's Office in Centennial, Colorado for achieving NAME Accreditation!

10/11/2022

Words cannot express how grateful I am to my fiancée, family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, colleagues, and complete strangers who supported me through this campaign with door knocking, literature dropping, information sharing, social media posting, sign displaying, money and time donating, publicly endorsing, cheerleading, and general encouraging. I am so overwhelmed with your love and kindness. Thank you to everyone and I am so relieved to get back to real life!

08/11/2022

Election Day is finally here!! But you won’t find me waving a sign on a street corner today. Today, my schedule includes doing at least one autopsy (that will vary depending on how the day progresses), consulting with a neuropathologist to discuss brain findings in a case, calling two separate families to give them results (one family who lost a loved one to su***de, the other an intraoperative death), meeting with an attorney about a homicide trial, and finalizing documents regarding our national accreditation. That is why this is a professional position and why experience matters. I hope that your schedule today includes going to vote at the polls or turning in your ballot!! 🗳️

02/11/2022

A thoughtful (and long!) article about my re-election campaign…

With 18 years of experience working in the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office, Kelly Lear hopes to continue her work as both a forensic pathologist and as the Arapahoe County …

22/10/2022

Universally respected forensic pathologist running for re-election, challenged by a dangerously unqualified politically motivated opponent with no clue what a coroner actually does, peddling in pseudoscience, conspiracy theories, misinformation and easily debunked accusations ... sound familiar? Well look to the north and you will see the amazing Kelly Lear MD for Coroner fighting to maintain competency in one of the great coroners offices of Colorado.

Dr. Lear has been a friend, colleague, and mentor to me for many years. She is a nationally respected and renowned medical examiner that has been an institution of professionalism and expertise in Colorado for two decades. Dr. Lear has served on numerous local, state, and national professional service boards that have set the standards for medical examiners concerning numerous topics including sudden unexpected death investigations in infants and youth. She is a revered expert in every field of forensic pathology, death investigation, and forensic science and has been a leader and mentor to a generation of younger physicians and pathologists.

Dedicated beyond her role of simply determining why people die, she has spearheaded local and statewide efforts against preventable death by working with public health, media, non-profits, and law enforcement to improve the health and safety of Coloradoans. Under her leadership, the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office has thrived and is one of the most respected in the country. She has served the citizens of Arapahoe County with the absolute highest levels of performance, integrity, and compassion under the most difficult of circumstances.

If you live in Arapahoe County or know someone who does, makes sure they know what's at stake in the coroner's race. And if you don't, send some encouragement her way.

21/10/2022

Thank you Aurora Sentinel for your endorsement!

“Arapahoe County Coroner: Kelly Lear

Voters have an easy choice to make for county coroner, incumbent Dr. Kelly Lear.

For almost two decades, Lear has instilled trust and accountability as the agency’s chief medical examiner and administrator.

Lear has ensured the office’s work is compassionate and respectful to families of the dead, but just as critically, the work is accountable and transparent to the public.

Under her leadership, the office has been above reproach for the past four years and The Sentinel strongly urges voters to return Lear to continue leading the office, and the profession.”

This year’s considerations look toward local governments that are foremost transparent and accountable with officials who look solely to vetted, reliable data and studies.

20/10/2022

Last call for yard signs! Anybody who wants one, please message me!

19/10/2022

I am very honored to be endorsed by Colorado Black Women for Political Action (CBWPA), a non-partisan, non-profit organization that encourages African-American participation in the political process and serves as a political advocate for the African-American community.

12/10/2022

During my campaign, I have focused my message on how the job of Coroner is not political but rather one of medical knowledge and expertise. I am not alone in this perspective. I am proud to share that I have received bipartisan endorsements from a number of current and former Arapahoe County Commissioners:
Carrie Warren-Gully, Commissioner, District 1
Nancy Sharpe, Commissioner, District 2
Nancy Jackson, Commissioner, District 4
Bill Holen, Commissioner, District 5
John Brackney, former Commissioner, District 2
Polly Page, former Commissioner, District 3/4
Lynn Myers, former Commissioner, District 4

"For over 30 years, Arapahoe County has had a forensic pathologist as Coroner. I had the privilege of serving for over 20 of those years. Please continue to uphold this important tradition by re-electing Dr. Kelly Lear to the Office of Coroner. She has the expertise and experience to continue Arapah...

07/10/2022

Science was my favorite subject in junior high and high school, and has driven my career path. I did basic science research while getting my bachelor's degree in biology, biochemistry, and molecular biology. I performed medical research in medical school and pathology residency, resulting in several peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals, primarily involving breast cancer. For the past two decades, I continue to be involved in forensic science research, with numerous peer-reviewed publications in scientific journals and textbook chapters in the fields of forensic pathology, medicine, and forensic science. I am on the advisory board and am a key researcher with the Sudden Unexpected Death in Childhood Registry and Research Collaborative.
All of this is one way that I stay involved and up-to-date with the way forensic pathology is practiced in this country, and I feel it is important to maintain a national presence in this very small field of medicine. However, I don't want any of this to overshadow the real work. The coroner's office performs a service to our community and my patients are my first priority. I have the unique opportunity to see into many people's lives and the ways in which they die, and that information, when aggregated, can be useful in public health, prevention work, and yes, even research. But above all, the important work is done by ensuring death investigations meet national standards, autopsies are interpreted by the physician doing the case, and families are provided medically-based answers to why their loved one passed away.
(Special thanks to AutumnRivera-2022 Colorado Teacher of the Year for the birthday Scientist shirt!)

06/10/2022

05/10/2022

Ongoing media coverage of the fentanyl crisis; it is such a heavy burden for first and last responders but mostly so tragic for the community and the affected families.

Fentanyl deaths nearly quintupled in two years.

01/10/2022

https://www.9news.com/video/news/health/death-rate-rising-in-arapahoe-county/73-6692fa75-90c0-4819-8ef9-4105d734b99a

New data shows fentanyl-related deaths are up 50 percent in Arapahoe County over the last two years.

27/09/2022

By law (Colorado statute 30-10-606.5) autopsies for coroner's offices must be performed by a board certified forensic pathologist. Colorado has 64 counties, and there are approximately 20 medical doctors who meet this criteria and are licensed to practice medicine in Colorado. This means that Arapahoe County is fortunate to have forensic pathology services available 24/7; it also means that other counties rely on this network of forensic pathologists for their autopsy services. As Arapahoe County is a leader in the field, we are also seen as a resource to smaller counties. I perform autopsies for outside counties and occasionally for private families who request my services. Some counties use my services regularly, some periodically, sometimes I am the backup for their primary forensic pathologist due to the scarcity of such professionals in the state (and nationwide). Private families may want an autopsy for a variety of reasons, but when the death of their loved one falls outside of their local coroner's jurisdiction they have few options. These cases are referred to me by other coroner's offices, by funeral homes, by physicians, and through the Colorado Coroner's Association. All of the outside autopsies are managed through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in a fully transparent process approved by the Board of County Commissioners and the County Attorney, with the understanding that these autopsies are not performed using county funds and that they never take priority over county work. The MOU ensures that when an outside autopsy is performed at the county office, the County receives payment for facility use and operating expenses; this is one of the only ways the coroner's office can generate revenue that is returned to the county's general fund. The work that I do as a private physician highlights the high caliber office that Arapahoe County is fortunate to have, and provides a service to other counties and families that need medical expertise and advice.

21/09/2022

Happy Forensic Science week to all of my forensic colleagues, coworkers, and partners in crime (scene)! I appreciate all of your hard work and professionalism.

19/09/2022