History of NCRC

Campus Leadership

The NCRC is led by the vision of David H. Murdock, owner of Dole Foods and Castle & Cooke, Inc. Working with Mr. Murdock to develop the 350-acre campus is President of Atlantic American Properties and the North American Commercial Division of Castle and Cooke Lynne Scott Safrit and Vice President of Business Development Clyde Higgs.

Equal partners in the NCRC’s growth and development are the board of directors and scientific team of David H. Murdock Research Institute (DHMRI) and the campus’ universities and businesses. Project leaders and principal investigators for campus partners are:

Cory Brouwer, PhD

Director, UNC Charlotte Bioinformatics Services Division

Robert Califf, MD

Director, Duke Translational Medicine Institute; Principal Investigator, The MURDOCK Study

Nicholas Gillitt, PhD

Director, Dole Nutrition Research Laboratory

Judy Heylmun

Vice President of Business Development, Sensory Spectrum, Inc.; Director, Spectrum Discovery Center North Carolina

Wei Jia, PhD

Co-Director, UNC Greensboro Center for Research Excellence in Bioactive Food Components

Lane Johnson, PhD

Site Lead, General Mills

TinChung Leung, PhD

Principle Investigator, NC Central University Nutrition Research Program

Mary Ann Lila, PhD

Director, NC State University Plants for Human Health Institute

Susan MacIsaac, PhD

Principal Investigator, Monsanto

David Neiman, DrPH, FACSM

Director, Appalachian State University Human Performance Labs

William F. Pilkington, DPA

Director, Cabarrus Health Alliance

Leonard Williams, PhD

Director, NC A&T State University Center of Excellence for Post Harvest Technologies

Steven H. Zeisel, MD PhD

Director, UNC Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute