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Craig Lee

Chair John A. and Deborah S. McNeill, Jr. Distinguished Professor

Craig Lee

Chair, Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics

John A. and Deborah S. McNeill, Jr. Distinguished Professor


photo of Craig Lee

PHONE
(919) 843-7673
EMAIL
craig_lee@unc.edu
ADDRESS
3318 Kerr Hall, UNC Eshelman School Of Pharmacy, CB# 7569, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7569
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Craig Lee, Pharm.D, Ph.D. is a professor and the chair of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics. Lee is a licensed pharmacist in North Carolina, and is trained as a clinical/translational pharmaceutical scientist with expertise in cytochrome P450 metabolism, cardiovascular experimental therapeutics, and precision medicine/pharmacogenomics.

Since initiation of his faculty appointment in 2006, Lee has established a highly collaborative and translational research program that integrates mechanistically-driven rodent and cell-based preclinical models with observational and interventional clinical studies. He has received funding from the National Institutes of Health and American Heart Association, authored over 100 manuscripts and over 100 abstracts in the areas of cytochromes P450, eicosanoid and drug metabolism, pharmacogenomics, and experimental therapeutics, and has served as the major research advisor for over 40 graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and professional students.

Lee served as director of the School’s Research and Scholarship in Pharmacy pathway for Pharm.D. students from 2016-2021, the DPET vice chair for research and graduate education from 2019-2022, and is actively engaged as a teacher and mentor in the School’s professional, graduate and fellowship programs.

He is also an active member of the UNC McAllister Heart Institute and UNC Program for Precision Medicine in Healthcare, and has an adjunct faculty appointment in the UNC School of Medicine’s Division of Cardiology.



Pharm.D.
05/2000
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

Fellowship, Clinical Research / Drug Development
06/2002
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC/
GlaxoSmithKline, Research Triangle Park, NC

Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences
08/2006
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC


The overall objective of Craig Lee’s research program is to improve understanding of the key mechanisms underlying inter-individual variability in drug response as a means to develop novel therapeutic strategies that will improve public health.

The major scientific focus of Lee’s research is the metabolism of drugs and eicosanoids by the cytochromes P450 enzyme system. The major therapeutic area of application of his research is cardiovascular and metabolic disease.

His laboratory seeks to identify and elucidate the key factors that exacerbate inter-individual variability in the metabolism of and response to drugs currently on the market, and determine whether implementation of genomic and biomarker-guided drug selection and dosing strategies can reduce this variability in metabolism and response and improve patient outcomes.

Lee’s laboratory also seeks to develop a thorough understanding of how cytochrome P450-derived eicosanoids (bioactive lipid mediators of arachidonic acid) regulate hepatic and extra-hepatic inflammatory responses, and determine whether modulation of this pathway will serve as an effective anti-inflammatory and end-organ protective therapeutic strategy for cardiovascular and metabolic disease.

Craig Lee, Pharm.D, Ph.D. is a professor and the chair of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics (DPET). A key aspect of our mission is to optimize drug therapy through translating experimental and clinical pharmacology discoveries into precision medicine and accelerating application of these discoveries to improve patient care.

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