Board of Directors Offers Chief Medical Examiner to Dr. Philip Keen

By Adrianna Iwasinski, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Medical Examiner's Office Board of Directors has offered the Chief Medical Examiner position to Dr. Philip Keen after interviewing three candidates Thursday.

Keen was offered the position, pending the outcome of a background check, during a special meeting Thursday.

Medical Examiner's Office spokesperson Cherokee Ballard said she is not sure if Keene has accepted the position or not yet.

All three candidates interviewed Thursday have Oklahoma ties. The other candidates up for the position included Dr. Andrew Sibley and Dr. Jay Chapman.

Keen is the retired, former Chief Medical Examiner in Phoenix, Arizona, where he worked from 1992 to 2006. He was a fellow in the Oklahoma M.E.'s office from 1973 to 1974. He also helped the M.E.'s office in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City Murrah bombing, one former Medical Examiner's officer employee recalled.

Sibley is a pathologist out of the Tulsa office and is the current interim acting Chief Medical Examiner. He was also a pathologist in the Pima County Medical Examiner's office in Tucson, Arizona.

Chapman is from California and was the Chief Medical Examiner for the Oklahoma M.E.'s office in 1971.