Craig A. Fletcher, DVM, PhD, oversees the care of the animals behind much of UNC-Chapel Hill’s billion-dollar research enterprise and helps shape the university’s strategy for animal-based science. He is Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, Director of the Division of Comparative Medicine, and Professor and Vice Chair in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine. He is also the university’s attending veterinarian, responsible for the health and wellbeing of the animals used in research across campus.
His connection to North Carolina began well before his faculty appointment. While earning a B.S. in Laboratory Animal Science at North Carolina A&T State University, he had his first exposure to research through a UNC program for veterinary students interested in laboratory animal medicine.
That experience showed him that studying animal models could lead to cures for human disease. He went on to earn his DVM from the University of Florida and his PhD in pathobiology and infectious disease from Johns Hopkins University, where he completed postdoctoral training and joined the faculty of the Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology. Dr. Fletcher moved to UNC to continue his research on why some people are predisposed to blood vessel inflammation that can lead to cardiovascular disease. He became Director of the Division
of Comparative Medicine in 2012, and under his leadership the division has more than doubled in size to keep pace with the university’s rapidly expanding research enterprise. His scholarship
covers veterinary pathology, animal models of disease, immunology, and vascular biology. He works with multidisciplinary teams that use animal models to study basic disease mechanisms
and test potential therapies.
In 2021, the School of Medicine selected him to deliver the Norma Berryhill Distinguished Lecture, one of its highest faculty honors. He has also received the Outstanding Alumni Achievement
Award from NC A&T. Dr. Fletcher is President of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine, the specialty board that certifies veterinarians in laboratory animal medicine, and is one of its board-certified diplomates. He chairs the Board of Directors of the Society for Scientific Advancement (SOSA). He has also served on a standing National Institutes of Health review panel for biomedical and behavioral research facilities and as Chair of the Executive Board of the North Carolina Association for Biomedical Research.
