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Chris Kratochvil, M.D., began his role as the Interim Vice President for External Relations at the University of Nebraska System in July 2024. As Interim Vice President for External Relations, Kratochvil serves on the president’s executive cabinet and is responsible for promoting positive relations and outcomes between the university and its constituents. As the senior member of the external relations team, Kratochvil oversees the unit responsible for communications, event planning, marketing and branding, and state and federal government relations. He is the university’s chief external relations officer.


He also serves in a dual role as Vice Chancellor of External Relations at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), focusing on government relations, alumni, strategic communications, rural, and community initiatives. Kratochvil is the Senior Advisor to the Global Center for Health Security and in 2021 was named the Inaugural Distinguished Chair for the Global Center for Health Security.

Kratochvil is a Fellow of the National Strategic Research Institute and a Core Competency Advisor for Active and Passive Medical Defense against Weapons of Mass Destruction and Consequence Management for the National Strategic Research Institute. As the Medical Director of UNeHealth, which serves to support commercial clinical research, he oversees a team focused on commercial contracting and agreements.

Kratochvil is a Co-Principal Investigator of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR) National Center for Health Security and Biopreparedness, which trains federal partners and provides quarantine services for the U.S.

He previously served as Co-Principal Investigator of the federally funded National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC) which supports research and preparedness nationally and helped launch the Special Pathogens Research Network. He is a member of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit leadership team and from 2020-2021 served as Chair of the Big Ten Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Kratochvil earned both his bachelor’s degree in psychology and his M.D. from Creighton University and completed residencies in psychiatry at Creighton University and in child-adolescent psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center. He and his wife, Dr. Jillyn Kratochvil, have three adult children.