Craig Lee Promoted, Receives Tenure

Craig R. Lee, PharmD, PhD, has been promoted to the rank of associate professor with tenure at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. He is a member of the Division of Pharmacotherapy and Experimental Therapeutics.

“Since joining the School’s faculty, Dr. Lee has achieved national prominence by establishing a strong translational research program in the pharmacogenomics of cardiovascular disease,” says Dean Bob Blouin, PharmD. “His promotion and tenure reflect the sustained excellence he has attained in the areas of teaching, research, and service.”

Through his NIH-supported research program, Lee examines the role of genomics in the development, progression, and treatment of cardiovascular disease with a focus on the metabolism of eicosanoids (a type of signaling molecule), inflammation, and dysfunction in the endothelium, the layer of cells lining blood vessels. He is currently focused on the part played by the enzyme cytochrome P450 in these processes in both preclinical models and patients with cardiovascular disease.

After receiving his doctor of pharmacy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Lee completed a fellowship in clinical research and drug development at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy and GlaxoSmithKline, Inc. He went on to earn his PhD in pharmaceutical sciences at UNC-Chapel, supported by a Ruth L. Kirschstein Individual National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He joined the faculty of the School in 2006.

Lee is director of graduate admissions for DPET and is a member of the UNC McAllister Heart Institute, the School’s Center for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy, and the Institutional Review Board at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. He is a licensed pharmacist in North Carolina and is the author of more than forty published articles. Lee is an elected fellow of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy.