UNCONVENTIONAL WORLD RECORDS

Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand (sometimes written as Porntip Rojanasunan), 54 at first glance could be easily mistaken for a washed out rock star due to her “punk-rock hair dyed purplish red, sparkly eye shadow and a silver fish-shaped ear cuff,” not mentioning a fashion sense not usually attributed to medical specialists.

Some photos follow.

When she testified at the inquest into the death of political aide Teoh Beng Hock in Malaysia on 21st October 2009

Investigating the Santika Pub fire in Bangkok (January 2009) which killed 59 people

In 2005

She is probably the top forensics expert in the South East Asian region, who gained international fame for her work after the 2004 Tsunami.

She has conducted more than 10,000 autopsies. Whoa, that’s a lot, perhaps she’d gotten so used to seeing dead bodies that she’d pass by one without even a blink, while holding a discount cigar in one hand.

She is the Director of the Central Institute of Forensic Science, Ministry of Justice, Thailand.

Dubbed Dr Death, she spends more time with the dead than the living, a fact which apparently terrified her husband.

She is a celebrity in her home country but disliked by “many on the police force who has criticized the police as corrupt and has frequently challenged their findings.” As a result, she travels with a minder.

On her appearance, in her own words in 2005:

I wanted to work for society but also I wanted to dress in this style. Being an ordinary doctor was not a good way for me, so I had to find some specialty that was compatible. I work with the dead, and the dead do not complain.

Another, in September 2009:

It‘s my artistic side. Before I became a doctor, I wanted to be an interior designer and the first magazine I subscribed to was the fashion magazine Glamour. The second one was National Geographic. You see, these are two opposite things in my life.

She’s married to a bank manager in Bangkok and they have a teenage daughter. She writes books about her work in her spare time. Her favourite TV show is unsurprisingly “CSI: Miami”. She sleeps for only 4 hours a day, a habit started with she entered her profession 30 years ago.

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