Every death contains information.
Transforming death data into life-saving policy for healthier, more equitable communities.
A HEALTHIER
MORE EQUITABLE
WORLD
A LIFE. A FAMILY. A COMMUNITY.01 / Start with a person
A life remembered.
A lesson that can protect the next.
Every death contains information. Autopsy findings, investigations, and historical records can show us where systems fail — and where prevention is possible.
At Meharry, we’re building a center that brings forensic medicine, public health, law, and community understanding together. Because evidence should do more than describe what happened. It should help change what happens next.
Follow the Evidence02 / FROM EVIDENCE TO PREVENTION
Scroll to follow records into findings, policy, and systems that protect life. A conceptual view of the Center’s planned approach.
01 / Evidence
Connect fragmented records to understand the circumstances of a death. Each color follows one evidence source through the journey.
01 / Evidence
Connect fragmented records to understand the circumstances of a death. Each color follows one evidence source through the journey.
Input: Autopsy findings · death certificates · fatality reviews · investigations
Output: Connected mortality evidence
02 / Findings
Forensic medicine, public health, and legal expertise bring the evidence together to identify patterns, disparities, and gaps in systems.
Input: Connected mortality evidence
Output: Findings that reveal opportunities for prevention
03 / Policy
Translate reviewed findings into policy briefs, model legislation, expert testimony, and practical recommendations for reform.
Input: Patterns, disparities & system gaps
Output: Evidence-informed proposals for decision-makers
04 / Prevention
Support prevention strategies, workforce training, and stronger review systems. Public accountability helps lessons inform the next cycle.
Input: Recommendations for reform
Output: Stronger systems designed to protect communities
Illustrative connections, not individual case data or measured outcomes.
03 / Build the connections
Today, mortality evidence is fragmented, inconsistently reviewed, and too often disconnected from the policies that could save lives. We’re closing that gap — with science, collaboration, and action.
See how the work connectsDeath investigations managed or supervised
Dr. Mitchell’s professional experience
Pathways to change
Mission
Learn from Death. Protect Life.
The gap we are built to close
Autopsy findings, public-health data, justice records, and fatality reviews rarely tell their full story in isolation.
Connect the evidence.Local, national, and global systems need standardized protocols and accountable follow-through.
Build a shared standard.Findings must move beyond reports into policy briefs, model legislation, expert testimony, and administrative reform.
Turn insight into action.Physicians, public-health professionals, lawyers, researchers, and forensic leaders need a common language.
Train across boundaries.The connections become a practice
The journey needs more than a report. It needs people who can review a death, connect the findings, and help turn them into decisions.
04 / Ask who is being left behind
Mortality evidence can expose barriers to health equity. Our proposed studies focus on the structural conditions that shape premature death.
The question is not only what happened — but who our systems are failing.Research priority 01
Understand the systems surrounding pregnancy and birth, and the inequities that shape preventable maternal deaths.
05 / Put experience to work
Evidence needs people who can turn it into practice. The Center draws on a career of asking difficult questions — and building the systems to act on the answers.
Board-certified forensic pathologist.
Physician executive. Educator.
From professional experience → to the Center’s proposed work
A foundation in death investigation informs the Center’s approach to connecting forensic evidence, public health, and law.
In Washington, DC, Dr. Mitchell led the medical examiner’s office to full accreditation and established maternal, opioid, and violence mortality review committees.
At Meharry, that experience informs a proposed center connecting research, training, and policy — so more communities can learn from mortality evidence.
Executive discipline
As President of Howard University Hospital, Dr. Mitchell held responsibility for a $330 million operation, introduced its first five-year strategic plan, and achieved more than $1 million in recurring monthly cost-saving efficiencies.
Relationships across borders
His professional work has supported medicolegal and mortality-review initiatives in Belize, Mumbai, Zambia, and Egypt. These experiences inform the Center’s ambition to strengthen local capacity through shared knowledge.
These are milestones from Dr. Mitchell’s career, distinct from the Center’s proposed programs and operating budget.
06 / Share what we learn
Dr. Mitchell’s work has supported medicolegal and mortality-review initiatives in Belize, Mumbai, Zambia, and Egypt. The Center’s vision builds on those relationships to connect evidence across borders.
Continue to our five-year visionKnowledge that travels
The Center’s planned publications and convenings will connect professionals, policymakers, and communities around mortality evidence.
Planned newsletter & podcast
A platform for mortality science, public understanding, and the conversations that turn findings into prevention.
Planned monthly meetings
A regular forum for international partners to exchange expertise and strengthen medicolegal and mortality-review practice.
Planned annual convening
Bring science, law, and public health into one room — with collaboration and practical reform at the center.
07 / Set a direction
Our proposed five-year goals provide a roadmap for partnership, research, and policy change — and a platform for national leadership in Death in Custody reform.
Five-year planning targetsRead the full five-year plan Partnership page08 / Make the work possible
Flexible philanthropic support can help launch and scale an academic center able to respond to emerging mortality patterns and turn independent evidence into action.
Core leadership and staff. Data infrastructure. Research administration. Communications, convening, partnership development, and rapid-response capacity.
$1.2 millionProposed annual operating budgetSupport mortality review modernization, the analytics lab, policy translation, forensic case review, equity research, education, publications, or global convenings.
Read the partnership plan Partnership pageA legacy of prevention
Potential legacy opportunities may include:
From understanding to participation
We started with a person. We followed the evidence. Your partnership can help build the people, systems, and knowledge needed to protect the next life.
Proposed annual operating budget: $1.2 million