Office of Research Services

Director's Biography​

​Dr. Jill Ascher has over 25 years of experience in veterinary medicine. Jill is the Director of the Division of Veterinary Resources (DVR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As Director, Jill focuses on strategic initiatives for continuing to update and improve DVR for the staff and for DVR's stakeholders and customers. Prior to joining NIH, Jill was with the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), where she served as the Deputy Director of the Division of Veterinary Services. During her time at the FDA, Jill was on the design team for the animal facility at FDA White Oak Campus, and was directly involved in ensuring the smooth relocation of the CBER animal program from the NIH campus in Bethesda to the FDA White Oak Campus in Silver Spring, MD. She was named by the FDA Office of the Director to serve on a special internal assessment team with the purpose of ensuring adoption of best practices in animal research colony management throughout the 7 FDA centers. 

Jill has experience in setting up and managing facilities for biosafety level 3 animal research, including select agent research laboratories. She has also enjoyed organizing and managing other special projects such as gnotobiotic mouse and humanized mouse programs, among others. Her diverse career in veterinary medicine includes over 15 years of experience in private practice in the U.S. and internationally and experience in industry, academia, and government. She holds licenses to practice in both the U.S. and the U.K. Jill earned her BS in microbiology from Cornell University, her MA in microbiology from Boston University School of Medicine and her Veterinary Degree from Tufts University. She then completed a residency in laboratory animal medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center while concurrently earning a Master of Public Health from the Medical Center.​

​Director's Publications

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