Just five of the estimated 111 people who died in the devastating Maui wildfires have been identified and as Hawaii’s governor told CNN, it will likely take weeks to identify everyone tragically lost in these fires. According to the governor, a genetics team will help identify victims as rescue and search teams continue to sift through the rubble of last week’s fast-moving wildfires.
If you’re looking for more insight on what this identification process looks like, please consider Daniele Podini, a forensic DNA expert and chair of the Department of Forensic Sciences at the George Washington University Columbian College of Arts & Sciences. Podini’s forensic experience ranges from processing crime scenes and disaster areas for biological specimens to processing evidence in the laboratory, and from DNA profiling to testifying in court as an expert witness.
"The complicated part is the collecting," Podini said in a recent interview with BBC News. "Finding the right samples, identifying relatives, creating a database for all the relatives of the missing and then comparing the results from samples to that database... It's a combination of everything."
If you would like to speak with Prof. Podini, please contact GW Media Relations Specialist Cate Douglass at [email protected].
-GW-
