Robert
Barsley, LSUSD '77,
Installed as President
of American Academy of
Forensic Sciences
Dr. Robert Barsley, DDS,
JD, professor and head of
the Division of Diagnostic
Sciences in the Department
of Comprehensive Dentistry
and Biomaterials and
director of Oral Health
Resources, Community &
Hospital Dentistry, was
recently installed as
president of the American
Academy of Forensic
Sciences (AAFS). This
multidisciplinary
professional organization
provides leadership to
advance science and its
application to the legal
system. Organized in 1948,
the AAFS serves a
membership of 6,000
forensic science
professionals who are the
focal point for public
information when forensic
science issues are
addressed in the public
domain. The AAFS publishes
the internationally
recognized Journal of
Forensic Sciences. Dr.
Barsley will serve a
one-year term as the 65th
president of the
organization, hosting the
annual scientific meeting
in February 2013, in
Washington, D.C.
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Dr.
Robert Barsley,
DDS, JD |
A 1977 graduate of
LSUSD, Dr. Barsley's
interest in forensic
science, and in forensic
odontology in particular,
began during his sophomore
year in dental school,
kindled by lecturers from
the LSU School of Medicine
who shared their
experiences working with
coroners' offices in the
New Orleans area. After
graduation, he made
identifications for
Tangipahoa Parish where he
practiced prior to joining
the LSUSD faculty in 1980.
He became a full-time
faculty member in July
1982, one week after the
crash of a PanAm jet at
Moisant Field. He worked
side-by-side with LSUSD
faculty and students in a
successful effort to aid
law enforcement in
identifying the more than
150 victims of that
tragedy.
Dr. Barsley graduated
from Loyola University
School of Law in New
Orleans in 1987 and was
admitted to the Louisiana
bar that same year.
Mentored by now-retired
faculty members Ronald
Carr and Joseph Cuminale,
he has served as a
consultant to numerous
coroners' offices in
southern Louisiana and is
on staff at the coroner's
office in both Orleans and
Jefferson parishes.
As a member of DMORT
Region VI (United States
Public Health Service), he
served an extended tour of
duty in the dental section
of the hurricanes Katrina
and Rita morgues in St.
Gabriel and Carville,
Louisiana, where he
directed scores of
dentists from all over the
United States in
identifying the hundreds
of victims brought to the
morgue. This six-month
detail, using virtually
all forms of forensic
science, resulted in most
of the bodies being
identified and returned to
their families for burial.
Dr. Barsley has held
numerous offices in
various forensic
organizations and is
currently treasurer of the
Forensic Science
Foundation. He is co-chair
of the Odontology Section
of the Scientific Working
Group on Disaster Victim
Identification funded by
the National Institute of
Justice and the FBI. In
addition, he is a fellow
of the American College of
Dentists, the
International College of
Dentists, the Pierre
Fauchard Academy, and the
Odontology Section of the
American Academy of
Forensic Sciences.
Dr. Barsley served as a
Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation Congressional
Health Policy Fellow in
the office of Senator John
Breaux. He currently
serves as a delegate to
the American Dental
Association (ADA) House of
Delegates and is a former
chairman of the ADA
Council on Access,
Prevention, and
Interprofessional
Relations. He is a former
general chairman of the
New Orleans Dental
Conference, the current
secretary/treasurer of the
Louisiana Dental
Association, and the
general chairman of the
Committee on Local
Arrangements of the ADA
Council on the Annual
Session for the meeting to
be held in New Orleans in
October 2013.
Dr. Barsley serves as
the appointed magistrate
judge for the City of
Ponchatoula where he
resides with his wife
Gwen, a retired junior
high school principal.
Their daughter Emily is a
freshman at LSU.
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