A mean of 2500 bodies are examined annually at the Institute.

By law, all cases of sudden unexpected death are examined at the Institute either with consent from the family of the deceased or by a court order.

Some 300 clinical forensic examinations are conducted in the Institute, these include alive victims and perpetrators of assault (sexual and otherwise), domestic violence and age estimations.

The various units include: A department of pathology, an histology laboratory, photography and imaging laboratory, a forensic biology department, a clinical forensic medicine unit, a forensic anthropology department and an administrative section.

There are 35 staff individuals including 8 forensic pathologists, 3 forensic biologists and 2 forensic anthropologists. Professor Jehuda Hiss is the director of the Institute, Ms. Yona Tenenbaum is the administrative director, Dr. Maya Freund is the head of forensic biology and Chief Inspector Tzipi Kahana is the head of forensic anthropology.

The department of forensic biology is instrumental in severe crime solving, it determines the genetic profile of the individuals involved in the crime and compares them to samples collected at the crime scene.

During the last 2 years the laboratory has also refined its DNA profiling techniques, successfully identifying not only cases of extreme fragmentation and burning due to terrorist bombings but skeletal remains of individuals missing for over 10 years.

The staff of the Institute is actively involved in teaching in all major Medical and Law faculties in the country. Residency in Forensic Pathology at the Institute includes 3 years at the Institute, 1 1/2 years of anatomic and surgical pathology and 6 months training in a hospital clinical department.

Main research areas include SIDS, alternative post-mortem examination techniques, identification of human remains, domestic violence and military and firearm injuries.

Data on genetic markers of the Israeli population are currently
being collected and analyzed.