The Office of Allegheny County Medical Examiner investigates cases of persons who die within Allegheny County, Pennsylvania from criminal violence by casualty or by suicide, when unattended by a physician; under correctional custody or any other suspicious or unusual manner.

[1] The Medical Examiner's Office also houses the Forensic Laboratory Division for the county.

The disciplines within the laboratory are Drug Chemistry, Environmental Health, Firearms/Toolmarks, Forensic Biology, Latent Prints, Mobile Crime Unit, Toxicology, and Trace Evidence.

[2] In the 1950s the office (headed by William McClelland) was a leader in attempting to raise the driving age from 16 to 18.

[3] The 1970s had the office gaining national prominence as Dr. Cyril Wecht led several investigations into the John F. Kennedy assassination.