Christina VandePol, MD, was the first woman and first Democrat elected coroner of suburban Chester County, Pennsylvania in over two centuries. During four stormy years, she steered her office through both the opioid epidemic and the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. VandePol oversaw 5,697 death investigations and achieved national certification as a medicolegal death investigator (F-ABMDI).
Dr. VandePol graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and is board-certified in internal medicine and endocrinology. She has worked as an internist, rural emergency-room doctor, clinical researcher, educator, and medical writer. Currently she volunteers part-time at a free clinic and spends time writing, mostly about medicolegal death investigation and its intersection with public health, medicine, and justice. She is seeking representation for a completed memoir about her experiences as coroner.