Dr Maria Nittis has a 10 year background in General Practice (primary health care) and as a surgical assistant (Gynaecology and Urology). She started her forensic career at South Western Sydney Local Health District in 2001 providing adult and paediatric sexual assault forensic services, shortly followed by 2 years working in Drug Health.
Maria provided contracted services to the Clinical Forensic Medicine Unit (NSW Police Force) for 12 months, part time, and has provided police training in areas relating to sexual assault, domestic violence and fitness to interview.
She has worked as a Senior Staff Specialist and Head of Department at the Forensic Medical Unit since 2008. The Unit is situated within the Western Sydney Local Health District and services a population of 945,000. The Unit also provides services for the adjacent Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District (population 375,000). The range of service provision includes adult sexual assault, paediatric sexual assault and domestic violence forensic assessments.
Throughout her career she has been at the forefront of several state wide initiatives which have included sexual assault proforma development, return of forensic results to examiners, forensic photography, utilisation of AVL (audiovisual linkup) for Expert evidence, DNA free forensic evidence collection kits and Domestic Violence forensic medical services.
Maria has a Master of Forensic Medicine (Monash University), Masters of Legal Medicine (Griffith University) and a Diploma of Frontline Management. She is a Founding Fellow of the Faculty of Clinical Forensic Medicine – Royal College of Pathologists Australasia (FCFM – RCPA); Fellow of the Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine – Royal College of Physicians, United Kingdom (FFLM); Member of the National Academy of Forensic Science; Fellow of the Australasian College of Biomedical Scientists (FACBS); Fellow of the Australasian College of Legal Medicine (FACLM) and a past president of FAMSACA (Forensic and Medical Sexual Assault Clinicians of Australia) from 2010 to 2015.
Maria has authored 2 book chapters (Chapter 3 – Sexual Assault Examinations in Clinical Forensic Medicine – A Physician’s Guide 4th Edition / Evidence Collection in Cases of Sexual Assault in Beran RG. Ed. Legal and Forensic Medicine, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2013). She co-authored a chapter on injury assessment, documentation and interpretation (Clinical Forensic Medicine – A Physician’s Guide 4th Edition). She has authored and co-authored papers on a range of subjects which include review of illicit injecting sites, interpersonal violence, forensic evidence collection kits, forensic results, medical student education, forensic photography as well as case reports. She has been an occasional reviewer for both the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine as well as Forensic Science International. She has worked as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine since April 2020.