Dr. Byrd is a Board Certified Forensic Entomologist
and Diplomate of the American Board of Forensic Entomology.
He is the current Vice-Chair of the American Board of Forensic
Entomology, and the immediate past-President of the North American Forensic
Entomology Association. He
is the first person to be elected President of both professional North
American Forensic Entomology Associations.
Dr. Byrd is the Associate Director for the William R. Maples
Center for Forensic Medicine, University of Florida College of Medicine.
At the University of Florida, he instructs courses in forensic
science at the University of Florida’s nationally recognized Hume Honors
College. He is also a
faculty member of the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and
Medicine.
Outside of academics Dr. Byrd serves as an
Administrative Officer within the National Disaster Medical System,
Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, Region IV.
He also serves as the Logistics Chief for the Florida Emergency
Mortuary Operations Response System.
Currently he serves as a subject editor for the Journal of
Medical Entomology. He has
published numerous scientific articles on the use and application of
entomological evidence in legal investigations.
Dr. Byrd has combined his formal academic training in Entomology
and Forensic Science to serve as a consultant and educator in both
criminal and civil legal investigations throughout the
United States
and Internationally. Dr.
Byrd specializes in the education of law enforcement officials, medical
examiners, coroners, attorneys, and other death investigators on the use
and application of arthropods in legal investigations.
His research efforts have focused on the development and behavior
of insects that have forensic importance, and he has over 15 years
experience in the collection and analysis of entomological evidence.
Dr. Byrd is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic
Sciences.