Kelly C. Lear

Dr. Kelly C. Lear, M.D. was appointed as the Arapahoe County Coroner/Medical Examiner in June 2014. She is a Forensic Pathologist and has been with the Arapahoe County Coroner’s Office since 2004.

Dr. Lear earned her undergraduate degree in Biology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Cornell College, and subsequently received her Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center School of Medicine. She is board certified in Anatomic and Clinical Pathology and Forensic Pathology, having completed an Anatomic and Clinical Pathology Residency and a Surgical Pathology Fellowship at the University of Colorado Hospital and a Forensic Pathology Fellowship at the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator.

Dr. Lear has an interest in pediatric deaths and has been an active member of the Colorado State Child Fatality Prevention Review Team since 2005 and the Arapahoe County Child Fatality Review Team formed in 2013; she also sits on the Sudden Unexpected Death in Childhood Medical and Investigative Advisory Board. She is a member of the American Board of Pathology Test Development and Advisory Committee, the North Central Region Fatality Management Committee, TriCounty Healthcare Coalition, and the Arapahoe County Narcotic Prescription Drug Abuse Workgroup. She is a Fellow of the National Association of Medical Examiners and College of American Pathologists, is a member of American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the Colorado Homicide Investigators Association, and is a Past President of the Colorado Society of Clinical Pathologists.

Dr. Lear is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. In addition to teaching medical students and residents, Dr. Lear-Kaul lectures regularly to a wide variety of audiences, and has numerous peer-reviewed publications in nationally and internationally recognized journals.

Dr. Lear is a Colorado native and lives in the Littleton area with her daughter.

Additional Coroner Staff

• Casey Bitting, DO, Forensic Pathologist
• Lisa Vantine, Office Administrator
• Aleya Givens, Autopsy Technician
• Daria Skorka, Autopsy Technician
• Ivor Hansen, Autopsy Assistant
• Lauren Adamthwaite, Medicolegal Death Investigator
• Aspen Atkins, D-ABMDI, Medicolegal Death Investigator
• Sarah Buck, Medicolegal Death Investigator
• Tamara Davis, D-ABMDI, Medicolegal Death Investigator
• Griselda Estrada, Medicolegal Death Investigator
• Layla Fitch, Medicolegal Death Investigator
• Brandon Gerber, D-ABMDI, Medicolegal Death Investigator
• Arely Juarez-Dominguez, D-ABMDI, Medicolegal Death Investigator
• Elizabeth Ortiz, F-ABMDI, Medicolegal Death Investigator
• Shannon Sanamo, D-ABMDI, Medicolegal Death Investigator
• Kelly Warren, Medicolegal Death Investigator