Office of Research

Chris King

About the Interim Vice President for Research

Christopher King portrait

Chris King
Interim Vice President for Research
150B Coverdell Center,
500 D.W. Brooks Drive,
Athens, Georgia 30602
vpr@uga.edu

Nikki Nix
Executive Administrative Assistant
706-542-4582
nikki.nix@uga.edu

Chris King was appointed interim vice president for research in 2024 after serving as the associate vice president for research for 12 years. King is also a professor of population health in the Laboratory Animal Medicine program in the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Population Health.

Since 2012, King has supervised the Office of Research Integrity and Safety, which includes programs such as Animal Care and Use, Biosafety, Human Subjects, and Research Security and Export Control. In this role, King ensures campus research is conducted safely under applicable laws, enhances program quality, and reduces administrative burden for research faculty. King manages 11 direct and nearly 100 indirect reports, overseeing a comprehensive range of programs from compliance training to conflict of interest review and management. His responsibilities also include maintaining gold-standard accreditations of the Animal Care and Use and Human Subjects Protection Program by AAALAC International and the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, respectively.

King came to UGA in 1992 as the director of animal resources and attending veterinarian in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and College of Veterinary Medicine. King led the AAALAC International accreditation for the various biomedical animal care and use programs at UGA. Considered the international gold standard for institutional animal care and use programs, AAALAC International promotes humane treatment of animals in science through voluntary accreditation and assessment programs. King later consolidated and organized multiple biomedical animal care programs at UGA into a single accredited unit supported by the OACU (compliance) and URAR (research support), each with highly qualified laboratory animal veterinarians in director roles.

He joined the Office of Research in 2004 as assistant vice president for research and attending veterinarian. In 2014, King was appointed University Research Integrity Officer.

Since joining the Office of Research, King has assisted in leading development of a comprehensive biosafety program, including the construction of the BSL3/ABLS3/BSL3Ag Animal Health Research Center. He also significantly contributed to the Human Research Protection Program, achieving AAHRPP accreditation in 2018.

Most recently, King helped launch a Native Americans Graves Protection and Repatriation Act policy with the UGA Laboratory of Archaeology. Together, he worked with faculty experts, UGA Legal Affairs, and the Tribal Nations partners to implement the policy and hire a NAGPRA professional to implement a university-wide program.

Over his career, King has served on numerous national animal care committees and boards, including the Board of Trustees for the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS), AAALAC International Council on Accreditation, University System of Georgia Executive Leadership Institute Scholar, and the National Association for Biomedical Research Board of Directors.

King earned a doctorate in veterinary medicine from the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the College of William and Mary. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship in comparative medicine at Yale University School of Medicine.