Dr. Hemlata Pandey

Dr. Hemlata Pandey is an Assistant Professor, Forensic Odontologist at the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology at Seth GS Medical College and KEM Hospital in Mumbai (India).  She is the first in India to have established a section for forensic odontology at a government hospital. She has BDS (India), MSc. in Forensic Odontology (Wales, UK), and Diploma in Forensic Human Identification (London, UK). She is a Ph.D. Research Scholar and is also pursuing her Law degree. She is also trained in International Humanitarian Law and the Criminal Justice system. She is the first in India to have been involved in the DVI team as a forensic odontologist. She has been able to do dental identifications during DVI where accessibility to dental records is a major concern and has been involved in 4 such DVI teams in the recent past and conducts training for police officers as first responders for humanitarian forensic action in disasters or mass killings. She has been involved in sensitive cases of serial killings, the exhumation of human remains, crimes against women, children, and vulnerable people, and provides expertise on request of State Police and Central Bureau of Investigation in Courts in India. Her areas of interest include missing persons and unidentified human remains by dental anthropology, biological profiling of human remains by forensic facial approximation techniques.

Apart from working in the field, she training, lectures, and hands-on workshops for Dental and Medical students. She is the Chief Faculty of Indian Board of Forensic Odontology, Chief Faculty-Forensic Odontology Section of Indian Dental Association, and Faculty at several Postgraduate courses. Dr. Pandey is Faculty to the State Police Academy and also Police Training School in Maharashtra, India. She has been a guest speaker at various National and International conferences and CDE Programmes and workshops. She is an Executive Committee member of the Indian Association of Forensic Odontology (IAFO), President-Elect (2019-21) of Association Forensic Odontology for Human Right (AFOHR), Member, American Society of Forensic Odontology (ASFO), Member, Indo-Pacific Academy of Forensic Odontology. She is also a TEDx speaker, Recipient of Mid-day Young Achiever Icon Award, and frequently appears in media regarding forensic investigations in which she has been involved.