FBI Names New Laboratory Director
DiZinno will lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory

Washington, D.C. -- FBI Director Robert S. Mueller has appointed Joseph A. DiZinno, D.D.S., a 20 year veteran of the FBI, as the new Laboratory Director. Dr. DiZinno will lead a group of over 600 talented men and women dedicated to performing a wide array of forensic services to the law enforcement community worldwide. He is replacing Dr. Dwight E. Adams, who retired from the FBI on June 30th after 23 years of distinguished service.

Dr. DiZinno entered the FBI as a Special Agent in 1986 and served in the Washington Field Office. While assigned to the Washington Field Office, he investigated reactive crimes to include bank robberies, kidnapings and extortions. He became a Supervisory Special Agent in the Laboratory in 1989 and specialized in the examination of hairs and fibers. From 1992 to 1996, Dr. DiZinno participated in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) research, validation, and implementation studies. In 1996, mtDNA analysis was first applied to forensic casework in the Laboratory. Dr. DiZinno was selected as the Chief of the DNA Analysis Unit II in 1997 which is responsible for conducting mtDNA examinations on evidence consisting primarily of hairs, bones and teeth.

In 2000, Dr. DiZinno was promoted to Chief of the Scientific Analysis Section of the Laboratory. At that time, the Scientific Analysis Section consisted of the Chemistry Unit, two DNA Units, the Explosives Unit, the Chem-Bio Sciences Unit, the Forensic Science Systems Unit and the Trace Evidence Unit.

On June 7, 2002, Dr. DiZinno was promoted to the position of Deputy Assistant Director of the Forensic Analysis Branch of the FBI Laboratory. As Deputy Assistant Director of the Forensic Analysis Branch, Dr. DiZinno supervised the Scientific Analysis Section and the Forensic Analysis Section of the Laboratory.

Dr. DiZinno graduated from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana with a Bachelor of Science degree in pre‑professional studies. To complete his formal education, in 1980 he received a Doctor of Dental Surgery Degree from The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. After graduating from dental school, he spent one year in a general practice dental residency at St. Luke's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. He then opened a private dental practice in Mayfield Heights, Ohio which he owned and operated for five years prior to entering on duty with the FBI in 1986.