Pathology with Dr. Priya | A Zone 7 Series: The Real Dangers Medical Examiners Face
Zone 7 with Sheryl McCollum
iHeartPodcasts and CrimeOnline
4.4 • 696 Ratings
🗓️ 13 October 2025
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Before a body is ever opened, a medical examiner must consider what dangers might be waiting inside: fentanyl, tuberculosis or even a hidden needle. This week on Pathology with Dr. Priya, a Zone 7 series, Sheryl McCollum and Dr. Priya Banerjee share stories from their recent visit to Lake Tobias Wildlife Park. There, they took part in Wildlife CSI training, a hands-on blend of forensic education and animal encounters, including time with Chester, a baby kangaroo who quickly won everyone over. From there, the conversation shifts to the serious risks medical examiners face every day. From bloodborne pathogens and drug exposure to unstable death scenes and unpredictable infections, Dr. Priya offers a closer look at the hidden hazards behind every autopsy.
Highlights
- (0:00) Welcome to Pathology with Dr. Priya: A Zone 7 series—Sheryl and Dr. Priya open the episode with highlights from the Wildlife CSI training at Lake Tobias Wildlife Park
- (3:15) Embracing lifelong learning, from seasoned investigators to students in the field
- (4:45 Honoring Dr. Jane Goodall and recognizing how wildlife crime intersects with forensic science
- (6:30) The hidden dangers of autopsy work: COVID, drug exposure, and unknown infections
- (8:30) Safety in the morgue: scalpel slips, needle sticks, and the rise of pandemic-era protocols
- (12:30) Fentanyl, MRSA, TB, and the health risks involved in cases with limited medical histories or unidentified individuals
- (17:00) Environmental hazards at the death scene, from fire damage and rough terrain to unpredictable animals
- (22:15) Morgue myths, pet protection, and why even the smallest details can carry big dangers
About the Hosts
Dr. Priya Banerjee is a board-certified forensic pathologist with extensive experience in death investigation, clinical forensics, and courtroom testimony. A graduate of Johns Hopkins, she served for over a decade as Rhode Island’s state medical examiner and now runs a private forensic pathology practice. Her work includes military deaths, NSA cases, and high-profile investigations. Dr. Priya has also been featured as a forensic expert on platforms such as CrimeOnline and Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. She is a dedicated educator, animal lover, and proud mom.
Website: anchorforensicpathology.com
Twitter/X: @Autopsy_MD
Sheryl McCollum is an Emmy Award–winning CSI, a writer for CrimeOnline, and the Forensic and Crime Scene Expert for Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. She works as a CSI for a metro Atlanta Police Department and is the co-author of the textbook Cold Case: Pathways to Justice. Sheryl is also the founder and director of the Cold Case Investigative Research Institute (CCIRI), a nationally recognized nonprofit that brings together universities, law enforcement, and experts to help solve unsolved homicides, missing persons cases, and kidnappings.
Email: [email protected]
Twitter/X: @ColdCaseTips
Facebook: @sheryl.mccollum
Instagram: @officialzone7podcast
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:12.0 | Welcome to Pathology with Dr. Priya. |
| 0:16.4 | Dr. Honey, get on in here. |
| 0:19.8 | We got something to talk about. I'm gonna tell you, we experienced |
| 0:23.6 | something so incredible and we're fortunate to be able to do it together. |
| 0:29.6 | Beyond, beyond. I'm rarely at a loss for words, but I don't even know how to capture it in words. |
| 0:35.6 | It was so great. I had a chance to watch your face when something happened that I didn't know you when |
| 0:46.3 | you were three or four, but I saw that little girl's face as plain as day. Y'all, listen, we spent the weekend in Pennsylvania at a wildlife |
| 0:59.0 | park called Lake Tobias. Magical, amazing, incredible, whatever you want to say. It's just beyond, |
| 1:06.0 | you can't put it into words, though. You can't. And the fact that we got to experience with friends, I think, |
| 1:14.2 | made it so much more just awesome to me and awe-inspiring. So the Wildlife CSI Academy had its first |
| 1:25.9 | training inside of a zoo. |
| 1:29.5 | And the first training was done by Scott Duffy, former FBI, senior person in charge of Delaware, |
| 1:39.3 | and he did interviewing. |
| 1:41.7 | And how do you interview a bank robber versus a poacher? |
| 1:45.3 | And then we had a special guest. |
| 1:48.4 | And this is where I saw Dr. Priya just become childlike in the best possible way. |
| 1:55.8 | It was a baby kangaroo. |
| 1:58.3 | Oh, God. |
| 1:59.3 | My, I just can't. I had a, I had a dream about him that I brought him |
| 2:04.8 | home and my husband expected it because he expects that kind of thing in real life. So it was |
| 2:11.8 | unreal. I, Chester, I don't know, I'm going to name my next pet Chester because I just need to carry on that legacy at home. |
... |
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