(a) The chief medical examiner shall be a physician with an unlimited license to practice medicine and surgery in the state of Tennessee, or who is qualified and eligible for such license, and shall be required to obtain a license within the six-month period after employment. The chief medical examiner shall be a pathologist who is certified by the American Board of Pathology and who holds a certificate of competency in forensic pathology. In addition to the chief medical examiner's other administrative duties, the chief medical examiner's educational duties shall include developing and providing initial training and regular continuing education to all county medical examiners and medical investigators. The chief medical examiner shall be appointed to a five-year term, and may serve unlimited consecutive terms.

(b) The Tennessee medical examiner advisory council shall recommend to the chief medical examiner three (3) deputy state medical examiners, one (1) from each grand division of the state. The chief medical examiner, in consultation with the advisory council and with the approval of the commissioner of health, shall appoint the three (3) deputy state medical examiners and any assistant state medical examiners needed for regional administrative, professional and technical duties. The deputy medical examiners shall be based in one (1) of the state forensic centers. These state medical examiners shall have the same qualifications as the chief medical examiner. In addition to their other administrative, professional and technical duties, the deputy and assistant state medical examiners may lecture to medical and law school classes and conduct such special classes for county medical examiners and law enforcement officers and other investigators.

(c) The chief medical examiner shall have investigative authority for certain types of death that are in the interests of the state, including mass fatality incidents, for the identification, examination and disposition of victims' remains, and instances that represent a threat to the public health or safety, or both.