In Memorium - Dr. Noel D. M. Lehner

Dr. Noel D. M. Lehner, the First Director of the DAR Passed Away on November 19, 2023

Noel D. M. Lehner, D. V. M., M.S., DACLAM, the first director of the Division of Animal Resources (DAR), passed away on November 19, 2023, at the age of 86. He joined Emory in 1986 where he envisioned, formed, and launched the DAR and led it until he relinquished the reins in 2002. Dr. Lehner fully retired in 2005 from Emory as a Professor Emeritus of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine. “It is difficult to imagine today just how challenging things were in 1986 for research using animal models at Emory and the true magnitude of his accomplishments in restoring order. In essence, Noel established the research animal care foundation and developed the facility and program infrastructure that helped fuel Emory's ascent from 48th in NIH funding in the late 1980s into the top 20 by 2002 and took the animal resources program from the gutter to nobility” recalled Dr. Michael Huerkamp, Executive Director of the DAR, who joined the DAR in 1987. “Noel inherited an array of 15 balkanized, vermin-infested, and small facilities and a research community rendered desperate by mouse diseases that were so rampant and out-of-control that any experiments using mouse models that relied upon a functional immune system were not possible” noted Dr. Huerkamp.

Just as seriously, the USDA in 1986 was on the cusp of revoking Emory's registration which would have prevented research using all but mice, rats, fish, squamates and birds, but under Dr. Lehner’s leadership and vision the entire situation was reversed within two years. Over the course of his tenure, Dr. Lehner centralized the DAR presiding over the closing of 10 substandard sites, designed 9 new DAR facilities, led 6 renovation projects, more than tripled the footprint of the DAR, and subsumed departmentally run programs in Anatomy, Biology, Physiology and Psychiatry into the unified program. A full 85% of the DAR footprint by 2002 was built new or renovated under Dr. Lehner's tenure with accreditation by AAALAC International attained in 1992. Lynne Morelock-Roy, a member of the DAR since 1986 observed: “We succeeded because Noel believed in recruiting great talent and empowered us”. Dr. Jeff Boatright, Professor of Ophthalmology and IACUC Chair, said “When I worked with him, he was not only the smartest person in the room, but the humblest.”

Although Noel Lehner was not a person who sought the spotlight, in October of 2002, he was recognized by the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science with the prestigious Joseph J. Garvey Award for outstanding accomplishments in administration, management, or the support of programs relating to the care, quality, or humane treatment of animals used in biomedical research. “I am forever grateful that he passed on to me a DAR on the ascent and that he defined our mission and set the standard for our aspirations of humane, quality animal care, and the best possible service to scientists” concluded Dr. Huerkamp.

Other enduring legacies, dating to 1987, are a monthly scholarly gathering of the Georgia laboratory animal veterinarians for comparative medicine seminars and a nationally renowned veterinarian training program that has provided leaders to NYU, NIEHS, the National University of Singapore, the Mannheimer Institute, CUNY, the University of Connecticut, the University of Minnesota, Fox Chase Cancer Institute, and to industry.

A celebration of Dr. Lehner’s life will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 27, 2024, at Seneca Presbyterian Church, 115 West South First Street, Seneca, SC 29678 with a reception to follow in the church’s social hall. For those interested in a memorial, the family asks that donations be directed to Thornwell Home for Children; 302 S. Broad St., Clinton, SC 29325 or to the charity of your choice.