Read about Fahren Nipple, an autopsy assistant for the medical examiner and assistant program director for the Graduate School’s Master of Science in Forensic Medicine, in “CATALYST” magazine.
Fahren Nipple, MS, is a surprisingly lively person for one who spends her days with the dead.
The 26-year-old is an autopsy assistant in the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Maryland (OCME) as well as the assistant program director for the Master of Science (MS) in Forensic Medicine at the University of Maryland Graduate School, a program from which she graduated in 2021. In this field, she can see the most difficult endings to human life. Yet Nipple has a certain calm geniality that cannot be missed even when she’s speaking with respectful reverence about the importance of her job. Perhaps that’s because she doesn’t see her work as sad or macabre but rather paying forward an old debt.
“I have a disease called hidradenitis suppurativa that strikes your sweat glands,” she says from her office at OCME, which is also where the MS program is housed. “In eighth grade, I had a surgery where the doctor removed the sweat glands from under my armpits. To help me heal quicker, he used cadaver skin.”
As one might expect from an eighth-grader, her first reaction was along the lines of “What do you mean you’re using a dead person’s skin on me?”
“He explained to me how the dead can help the living,” she continues. “Ever since then, I was interested in forensics.”
A native of Georgia, Nipple took elective courses on the subject in high school and, as a student at Albany State University, majored in forensic science with a minor in biology. (Interesting side note: She was also Miss Albany State 2019-2020.) Although she eventually wanted to go to medical school to become a medical examiner, she opted for graduate school first and chose the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) program because it promised diverse hands-on experience, particularly in autopsy, which was her primary interest. And with the program housed at OCME, there were natural networking opportunities.
Experience she received. Prior to graduation from UMB, she spent four months shadowing autopsies and was hired by OCME a week after graduation. There, she is part of a team that investigates any death that appears non-natural including suspicious circumstances and anyone deceased under age 18. (She also works for a private firm that does autopsies for loved ones who request one.)
Read more about Fahren Nipple in the latest issue of CATALYST magazine.
You can read the Spring 2024 issue of CATALYST magazine, which highlights UMB's new “Climate Change, Health, and Society” elective; innovations such as the School of Dentistry's Division of Artificial Intelligence Research; Carin Cardella, public information officer for UMB Police and Public Safety who has answered the call during state emergencies; the Francis King Carey School of Law celebrating 200 years; new Health Sciences and Human Services Library Dean Emily Hurst and Chief Philanthropy Officer Greg Bowden; and much, much more!