Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco Radiologist Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco of Indian Hill was appointed the new Hamilton County Coroner by the Hamilton County Democratic Party's Central Committee last week. She takes the place of Dr. Anant Bhati, who died two weeks ago after being injured during a fall.

Dr. Sammarco, a U.C. College of Medicine graduate who interned in Cleveland, has worked in Middletown, Dayton, and Cleveland in recent years.

Ohio law requires coroners to be physicians. It also gives the political party that a county officeholder ran for the right to appoint a successor. The Democrats appointed Dr. Bhati to replace Dr. O'Dell Owens when he left the Coroner's Office to become the president of Cincinnati State Career and Technical College, and he was a candidate for the office in the November election. Dr. Sammarco must also win election to the office in November to retain the position. Dr. Pete Kambelos is the Republican-endorsed candidate for County Coroner in that election: Dr. Sammarco is a Board Certified Neuroradiologist and Diagnostic Radiologist. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in 1988, and completed her residency in Diagnostic Radiology in 1993 from Case Western Reserve University- MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland, in 1993. She is board certified in Radiology. She is a Senior Member of the American Society of Neuroradiology, she is well-versed in all aspects of MRI imaging, CT, CTA including being cardiac CTA certified, NM including cardiac, US, PET, and general diagnostic radiology.