Mark Desire is both an Instructor in the Program in Criminal Justice, and an Assistant Director with the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner. He works in New York City’s DNA crime lab, the largest of its kind in North America. Throughout his 28 years with NYC, he has investigated thousands of criminal and missing persons cases. He is the manager of the World Trade Center DNA Identification Team, a unit dedicated to advancing the science and helping return loved ones to their families.
Desire holds a bachelor’s degree in biology, a master’s degree in molecular biology, and his juris doctor from New York Law School. Mark has been recruited by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and several foreign countries to assist in locating the missing and designing protocol to further this ability.
Mark also serves on the Missing Migrant Identification Task Force at our nation’s border. Using his experience and knowledge, Mark created New York City’s Missing Persons Day. This is a multiagency event to bring together family and friends of missing persons for the purposes of collecting information to bring them home.
Mark has appeared on television and documentaries hundreds of times with features on Netflix, HBO, 60 Minutes and Time Magazine. For years, he has been sharing his journey as a motivational speaker.
