Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunand M.D. (Thai: พรทิพย์ โรจนสุนันท์, sometimes transliterated as Porntip Rojanasunan, RTGS: Phonthip Rotchanasunan; born: 21 December 1955) is a Thai forensic pathologist, author, human rights activist, and cancer survivor.^[1] She has repeatedly publicly stated that she has come across evidence of police abuses during her work.^[2] Pornthip presently is Director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, in Bangkok and introduced DNA evidence to Thailand.^[2] Before her public criticism, autopsies of victims of alleged police abuse were carried out in the police's own forensic institute; this has since changed.^{[citation needed]} During the anti-drug campaign by the government of Thaksin Shinawatra in early 2003, more than 1,000 people vanished or were killed; Pornthip has shown that several of these deaths were caused by police.^[1]

She has written several books about her work. The most prominent pathologist in Thailand, she gets regular media coverage with her allegations of abuse, and by her own admission, her unorthodox appearance: punk-rock hair dyed purplish red,^[3] eccentric clothing and glittery eye makeup, and platform shoes.^[4] The Thai English-language newspaper The Nation chose Pornthip, along with Chuwit Kamolvisit and Chote Wattanachet, as persons of the year for 2003.^{[citation needed]} She was honored by King Bhumibol Adulyadej with the title "Khunying".^[5]

In the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, Pornthip took charge of the effort to identify victims of the tsunami in the Phang Nga region.^[6] She and her team were widely praised for their hard work and dedication, but on January 13, 2005 Police General Nopadol Somboonsab complained that the police's identification centre in Phuket should have charge of all identification operations. Many commentators and Pornthip herself attributed the late intervention to Nopadol's personal vendetta against her.^[7] Nopadol was ultimately successful, and the Phang Nga operation was closed down on February 3, 2005.^[8]

The 2005 National Geographic documentary Crime Scene Bangkok (2004) tells her life story and covers her work in Phang Nga after the tsunami and her battle with the police.^[9]

In June 2009, she was one of the pathologists investigating the death of actor David Carradine.^[10]

In October 2009, she concluded that Malaysian Democratic Action Party employee Teoh Beng Hock, who had been detained by the Malaysian federal Government's Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission had an 80% probability of being murdered.^[11]

[edit] External links

• Thai Tsunami Help — People
• A short bio of Dr. Pornthip Rojanasunand
• BBC broadcast (My World - Thailand's Dr. Death Episode 6)

[edit] References