Unit of Forensic Medicine

Courses offered by the URMF :

Pregraduate training in Forensic Medicine is provided to students and trainees at the Faculty of Biology and Medicine in Lausanne, the Faculty of Medicine in Geneva, the Faculties of Law in Lausanne and Geneva, the School of Criminal Sciences in Lausanne, and police academies in both cantons (e.g. Savatan Police Academy, the Swiss Police Institute in Neuchâtel) as well as to the Swiss Military Police.

Forensic Medicine Courses are also proposed as part of the post-graduate education to emergency physichians, ambulance attendants and magistrates of the "Ecole romande de la magistrature pénale".

Continuing education in legal medicine is provided to emergency physicians, ambulance attendants, magistrates of the "Ecole romande de la magistrature pénale", judges, custodial officers and prison staff and the clergy.

Training courses are proposed in association with the ICRC on the subject of the management of the dead in armed conflicts and disasters. These courses are organized in the center Ecogia in Geneva.

Concept of post-graduate training for assistant/intern doctors at CURML:

An internal training regulation has been established to ensure optimal training for the assistants (equivalent to interns) working in our Center. The concept is based on the SSML post-graduate training program of July 1, 2002. The training includes a theoretical part, a practical part and a research activity. Assistants can also participate in the teaching (document - version of March 28, 2012).

Title of specialist FMH in Forensic Medicine:

The title of FMH specialist in forensic medicine is awarded after completion of postgraduate training in accordance with the regulations for postgraduate training of the FMH and the ISFM and passing the specialist examination. Information can be obtained from Dr. Marc Bollmann, FMH specialist in forensic medicine and Chairman of the SSML Examination Board.

The main areas of research of the URMF :

Sudden cardiac death
Forensic imagery
Post mortem clinical chemistry
Forensic anthropology
Neck injuries
Elder abuse
Homicides and suicides

Weblink to the English training site "Forensic medicine for medical students"

Forensic medicine is a rapidly evolving discipline that uses the most recent techniques. Its evolution is summarized in an article published in 2008 by prof. P. Mangin.

Postmortem angiography opens up new possibilities for investigating the vascular system that were previously impossible with a conventional autopsy. An article published in 2008 in the Swiss Medical Journal details the problems of imaging applied to the forensic field.

In recent years, the term "molecular autopsy" has appeared in the scientific literature. It refers to genetic analyses carried out on biological material taken post mortem with the objective of revealing unfavorable mutations affecting human physiology. An article published in the Swiss Medical Journal outlines this topic. The article details the problem of sudden cardiac death.

The English training site "forensic medicine for medical students" presents in detail the different aspects of forensic medicine and its associated disciplines. Further information can be found on the site "All about forensic sciences".

Some of the articles published by the UMF :

Estimating heart weight
A small calculator has been designed to estimate the weight of the heart (reference to come). The calculator was developed in PHP/HTML5 to be compatible with most recent web browsers and with most smartphones and tablets.

Estimating the size of the heart
A small calculator was designed to obtain a suitable CTR (cardiothoracic ratio) post-mortem. The calculator has been developed in PHP/HTML5 in order to be compatible with most recent web browsers and with most smartphones and tablets.