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Office of Research Services

Serving the NIH Community

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Office of the Director

DVR Director Picture

​​​​​​The Division of Veterinary Resources (DVR) is a component of the Office of Research Services at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and is a large full service centralized animal care program. DVR provides professional and technical services to NIH intramural scientists who utilize animals in their research protocols.

​DVR is committed to excellence, quality and continuous improvement in research support. The program provides diagnostic services, veterinary care, and husbandry as well as a wide variety of specialty support to the NIH biomedical research community.

Customer satisfaction is at the foundation of our success. Please contact me with comments, suggestions, and concerns.

- Dr. Jill Ascher, DVR Director 


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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

  • Newsome J, Huerkamp M, Ascher J. In submission, (2022). Key take-home messages from the NASEM Workshop on Rapid and Sustained Response to COVID-19. ILAR Journal (2022-002).
  • Gabay O, Vicenty J, Smith D, Tiffany L, Ascher J, Curry T, Dennis J, Clouse K. (2020). Using a Model of Germ-Free Animals to Study the Impact of Gut Microbiome in Research: A Step by Step Sterility Setting and Management. Methods and Protocols. 3 (18):  doi:10.3390/mps3010018.
  • ​Finch C, Zhang A, Kosikova M, Kawano T, Pasetti M, Ye Z, Ascher J, Xie H. (2019). Pregnancy Level of Estradiol Attenuated Virus-specific Humoral Immune Response in H5N1-infected Female Mice Despite Inducing Anti-inflammatory Protection. Emerging Microbes and Infections. 8: https://doi.org/10.1080/22221751.2019.1648184.​
  • Maurya R, Bhattacharya P, Ismail N, Dagur P, Joshi A, Razdan K, McCoy, J, Ascher J, Dey R, Nakhasi H.  (2016). Differential role of leptin as an immunomodulator in controlling visceral leishmaniasis in normal  and  leptin  deficient  (Ob/Ob)  mice.  Am J Trop Med Hyg.15:  doi:10.4269/ajtmh.15-0804.
  • Haile L, Puig M, Polumuri S, Ascher J, Verthelyi D. In vivo effect of innate immune Response modulating impurities on the skin milieu using a macaque   model: impact on product Immunogenicity. J Pharm Sci 2016 Dec 3 [Epub ahead of print].
  • Kuchinsky S, Ascher J. (2015). Postoperative multimodal pain management. Lab Animal. 44 (4):132-134.
  • Ke Z, Vaidya A, Ascher J, Seluanov A, Gorbunova V. (2013). Novel husbandry techniques support survival of naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber) pups. JAALAS. 53:89-91.
  • Ascher J, Geneva  AJ,  Ng  J,  Wyatt  JD,  Glor  RE  (2013)  Phylogenetic  Analyses  of  Novel Squamate Adenovirus Sequences in Wild-Caught Anolis Lizards. PLoS ONE 8(4): e60977. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0060977.
  • Ascher J, Bates WA, Ng J, Messing S, Wyatt JD. (2012). Assessment of Xylazine for Euthanasia of Anoles (Anolis carolinensis and Anolis distichus). JAALAS. 51:83-87.
  • Sun X, Sui H, Fisher JT, Yan Z, Liu X, Cho H, Soo Joo N, Zhang Y, Zhou W, Yi Y, Kinyon JM, Lei-Butters DC, Griffin MA, Naumann P, Luo M, Ascher JM, Wang K, Frana T, Wine JJ, Meyerholz DK, Engelhardt JF. (2010). Disease phenotype of a ferret CFTR-knockout model of cystic fibrosis. JCI. 120: 3149-3160.​

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