Medical examiner ‘Dr. G’ retiring, moving to Seattle
Dr. Jan Garavaglia — known to most people simply as Dr. G — is retiring after more than a decade as the chief medical examiner for Orange and Osceola counties. Her reason: a promise. During her time here, she brought to life the state’s first “green” morgue; shed light on drug-use trends in Central Florida; and worked on high-profile cases such as Caylee Anthony.
In a 2011 interview on the “Today” show about the Anthony case, she said, “My job is not to determine who did it. My job is to determine what happened.”
She also judged University of Central Florida medical students’ first-year autopsy reports; wrote the book “How Not to Die”; danced to raise money for foster children in Central Florida; and taped her award-winning cable show “Dr. G: Medical Examiner,” which ended in 2012.
“I’m very proud of that TV show,” said Garavaglia, 58. “We won an international award for best health-education series, which to me, it was a huge thing for a show about the morgue, because people didn’t understand how much you can learn about life and death and health through the morgue.”
Garavaglia arrived in Central Florida in 2003 and raised her two sons here. Both boys are now in college.
That’s where the promise comes in.
Garavaglia’s husband, Dr. Mark Wallace, proposed to her back in medical school, but she turned him down and married another man. Some 25 years later, after she divorced, the two reunited. He gave up his job in California and moved with her to Orlando.
“And I told him that once my children are gone, I would go with him anywhere he wanted to go,” said Garavaglia.
Last year, her husband, who’s an infectious-disease doctor, had to move back home to the Seattle area to care for his ailing father.
“We’ve been trying the long-distance relationship for a while, and honestly, I miss him terribly. I’ve already gone without him for 25 years; I don’t want to waste another year,” she said. Her last day is May 28. The Orange-Osceola Medical Examiner’s Office is now nationally certified, a goal that Garavaglia set when she arrived at her job, and has five board-certified forensic pathologists.
“I’m really leaving it in a good state. I accomplished everything I needed to. ... We have an office to be proud of in this county. We have an office that people respect. We’re honest, and we truly care,” she said.
“We’re going to miss her. She’s certainly been very, very good for Florida. She’s been great as a professional colleague that’s so close. And I’ll miss her,” said Dr. Stephen Nelson, Polk County medical examiner.
She’s not planning on getting a full-time job as a forensic pathologist but will work part time. That starts in July, when she’ll fill in for a oneperson operation at a medical-examiner office near the Canadian border.
Dr. Joshua Stephany will fill in Garavaglia’s position here as interim chief. He has been with the office for eight years, was a resident at Orlando Regional Medical Center and worked under her tutelage.
“I would like to thank everybody who has been so kind to me. I’d just like to thank everybody in the county that gave me the opportunity to do this job. And thank everybody who’s ever thanked me for what we do on some of the worse days of their lives. That means more to us than anything,” Garavaglia said.