After a nearly four-year search and several pay boosts, the city announced Monday it has finally hired a new chief medical examiner.
Dr. Christopher B. Happy, a forensic pathologist, is expected to take the helm of the city Medical Examiner’s Office in several months, once he’s licensed to practice medicine in Hawaii and confirmed by the Honolulu City Council.
With a $250,000 salary, officials say, he’ll likely become the city’s highest-paid employee. Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation Executive Director Dan Grabauskas earns a base salary of $245,000.
Happy currently serves as a consulting forensic pathologist in Northern California, according to a city release. He will lead investigations into the city’s "sudden, unexpected, violent and suspicious deaths to determine cause and manner of death," according to a job description provided by the city.
The Medical Examiner’s Office in 2012 conducted more than 2,200 investigations, including 454 autopsies and 982 laboratory tests, according to city statistics.
The city’s prior chief medical examiner, Dr. Kanthi De Alwis, retired in October 2009. Since then the city has struggled to hire someone to fill the job despite making it the highest-paid position in the city in 2010, then $154,000 a year.
As the search dragged on, the city raised the salary to just above $200,000 and then, this year, to $250,000. Finding the right American Board of Pathology-certified candidate for the job was tough, the city’s release said, because of the 17,000 or so medical school graduates each year in the U.S., only 30 to 40 ultimately become forensic pathologists.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Masahiko Kobayashi oversees the 18-member staff at the Medical Examiner’s Office. Two other medical examiners, including DeAlwis, as well as a part-time administrator, work on contract to assist Kobayashi, according to Deputy Managing Director Georgette Deemer. The city still looks to hire a deputy medical examiner at $200,000 to complete the office.
Happy previously served as an assistant medical examiner in San Francisco, chief medical examiner in Milwaukee, assistant medical examiner in Santa Clara County and a medical examiner in New York City, according to the release.
"I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Christopher Happy, and I believe he possesses not only the professional expertise and experience required for the chief medical examiner position, but the leadership qualities that are needed to successfully run this critical operation at the city," Mayor Kirk Caldwell said in a statement released Monday.
