Dr. Charles E. Hamner, DVM and PhD, retired March 31, 2002, after leading the North Carolina Biotechnology Center for 14 years.
When Hamner joined the Center in February 1988, the state had a fledgling biotechnology industry. Today, North Carolina is among the nation's top five biotechnology states with several hundred thriving bioscience, contract research, device, and other supporting companies throughout the state.
Under his leadership, the Center strengthened the state's biotechnology infrastructure by investing more than $50 million in the state's universities, seed-funding 62 startup companies, creating a $26 million venture capital fund for new companies, building a permanent headquarters building and conference facility, providing biotechnology workshops for more than 1,000 high school teachers, creating the new North Carolina Genomics and Bioinformatics Consortium, and helping recruit more than a dozen biotechnology companies to North Carolina.
The Conference Center was given Charles Hamner's name on March 22, 2002, in appreciation for his leadership and vision.
Hamner joined the Center after serving 10 years as chief operating officer at the University of Virginia Medical Center and five years as director of program coordination for research and development at A.H. Robins Co. in Richmond.
Earlier, as a researcher at the University of Virginia, Hamner helped develop the technique of in vitro fertilization in cats. The technique was later applied to humans and today is widely known as the "test tube baby" method of artificial insemination.
Hamner has a bachelor's degree in animal husbandry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute. He earned his master's degree in chemistry, doctor of veterinary medicine degree, and doctoral degree in biochemistry from the University of Georgia.