How To Become An Autopsy Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is an autopsy assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an autopsy assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $22.71 an hour? That's $47,245 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 16% and produce 117,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreAutopsy AssistantUS Average

Salary

3.7

Avg. Salary $47,245

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate 16%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.81%

Asian 9.43%

Black or African American 11.10%

Hispanic or Latino 18.15%

Unknown 4.69%

White 55.82%

Gender

female 64.64%

male 35.36%

Age - 35

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 35

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.4

Complexity level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.6

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an autopsy assistant

Explore autopsy assistant education requirements

Most common autopsy assistant degrees

Bachelor's

56.4 %

Associate

26.4 %

Certificate

4.5 %

Start to develop specific autopsy assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
OSHA	34.78%
Provide Technical Assistance	12.24%
Tissue Samples	9.23%
Suturing	8.63%
Law Enforcement Agencies	6.24%

Complete relevant autopsy assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New autopsy assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an autopsy assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real autopsy assistant resumes.

Research autopsy assistant duties and responsibilities

Attain medical histories, explain treatment procedures to patients, prepare patients for examination, and assist during diagnostic examinations.
Preform specific protocol for fixation, dehydration and infiltration of tissue gross in by the pathologist or myself.
Preform radiologic imaging on decease individuals.
Perform frozen sectioning for in-surgical consultation.

Prepare your autopsy assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your autopsy assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an autopsy assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable autopsy assistant resume templates

Build a professional autopsy assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your autopsy assistant resume.