Dondrae Coble ‘01, chief of the comparative medicine at the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, has won an innovation award to study environmental chemicals’ effects on animal behavior.

There was only one college choice for Dondrae Coble ’01. His interest in animals, and the five-minute walk between his childhood home and North Carolina A&T’s campus, more than guaranteed that he would be an Aggie one day.

“My immediate family - my relatives, aunts and uncles - they were all North Carolina A&T graduates,” said Coble, a Greensboro native. “I was very familiar with A&T, its campus, homecomings. I experienced that my entire life. I didn’t apply to any other undergraduate programs. A&T was it for me.”

Part of his comfort came from hours spent at the Greensboro Area Math and Science Education Center, housed in the College of Science and Technology’s Marteena Hall, with his younger brother, future animal science department professor Derrick Coble, Ph.D.

“A&T and GAMSEC were integral to my personal development,” said Coble. “Mom would drop us off at the GAMSEC program every day and during the summer. I think those programs kept us on track to pursue our interests and what turned out to be our careers.”

Coble enrolled in the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences’ animal sciences department in 1997, pursuing veterinary medicine.

“I had a cousin who would foster animals, foster baby squirrels and so on,” said Coble. “I hung around with him as much as he would have me. That piqued my interest early on.”

Instructor Steven Hurley and the head of the laboratory animal science program, Tracy Hanner, DVM., became mentors for him in the department.

“Dr. Hanner was the first Black graduate of N.C. State University College of Veterinary Medicine, and he was my mentor throughout undergrad,” said Coble. “I still talk to him to this day.”

Off campus, Coble found work at what was then a small animal practice, Ambassador Animal Hospital in Greensboro.

“It was a practice run by Dr. Michael Cotton, who was another Black male veterinarian, so I was fortunate in that I had role models early in my career,” said Coble. “I saw that the career was attainable. I could speak to them about it.”

Coble graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science degree in laboratory animal science and left Greensboro to enroll Tuskegee University’s veterinary medicine program. He graduated in 2005.

Coble spent a year as a veterinary intern and the next three in emergency medicine, an interest he picked up during the internship in Florida. But then, he had a moment of clarity.

“I asked myself, ‘Where do you see yourself long-term?’ I was still involved with the laboratory animal medicine program at A&T, so I saw myself going back to that area,” he said.

Coble started applying for residencies and eventually found himself at Emory University School of Medicine in 2008, a decision based on an opportunity to broaden his animal experience.

“Emory stuck out to me because they’re affiliated with a National Primate Research Center,” said Coble. “I didn’t have any experience with non-human primates or apes. That was really appealing to me from a learning and professional development perspective.”

Dondrae and Derrick Coble grew up minutes away from N.C. A&T’s campus.

Coble stayed at the residency for three years before joining Ohio State University in 2011. While there, he became a full professor, a clinical animal medicine veterinarian, interim assistant dean for admissions and student affairs and director of the university laboratory animal resources surgery and its operations.

Coble gained animal research experience working as director and attending veterinarian at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s animal research program in Columbus and as chief of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’ (NIEHS) Comparative Medicine Branch, a position he has held since 2021.

In July 2022, Coble and his research team received the National Institute of Health Director’s Challenge Innovation Award for a study examining environmental chemicals’ effects on animal behavior.

“It’s a collaborative effort,” said Coble. “We’ve brought together researchers and scientists from different areas to work on this project. We’ve made great progress and are excited by some of the results we’re getting.”

Coble’s time at A&T has shaped his current career profoundly, he said. One key component that he has carried forward is availability.

“I always felt that I had people I could contact, or ask questions,” said Coble. “That open-door policy really was impactful for me and is something I try to do to this day. When I was a professor at Ohio State University, I tried to be there for the students. When the students need you, you’re there.”

Coble takes pride in N.C. A&T’s growing animal science program and in younger brother Derrick, who joined the faculty in 2021 graduate program coordinator and swine specialist in the Department of Animal Sciences.

“He (Derrick) has a collaborative approach to projects, and he has a great relationship with the faculty and his students,” said Coble. “I believe A&T was at the top of his list as well. His research program and his teaching efforts are going to continue to soar.”

According to Derrick Coble, his brother’s footsteps were easy to follow.

“Dondrae provided a great example for achieving academic success,” said Derrick Coble, whose time at university overlapped with his brother’s by just one year. “Following the model of ‘Aggie Excellence’ that Dondrae had already tapped into, I was able to achieve my dream of becoming an animal geneticist.

“My family and I are proud to have Dondrae return to the area as the chief of the NIEHS Comparative Medicine Branch. He worked very hard and spent many years away from home to arrive at this point.”