Jefferey Burgess

Dr. Burgess was appointed director Associate Dean for Research within the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health in 2014, previously having served as Director of the Division of Community, Environment and Policy since 2004. He has been a member of the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center (SWEHSC) since starting as a faculty member at the University of Arizona in 1997. Dr. Burgess has worked as an Emergency Physician, Medical Toxicologist and Occupational and Environmental Physician in addition to his research, teaching and service. Prior to moving to Arizona, he was a faculty member at the University of Washington. An important area of his research is the measurement of biomarkers of exposure, susceptibility, and effect in human populations following environmental and occupational exposures. Important areas of investigation have included arsenic exposure in drinking water and exposure to products of combustion for smoke inhalation victims, firefighters and miners, as well as exposure to methamphetamine laboratories for law enforcement officers and the public. His research has benefitted extensively from interactions with other researchers within the SWEHSC and use of the facility cores, enabling biomarkers discovered in cellular and animal models to be tested in humans, and new discoveries in humans to be evaluated more completed in in-vitro and in-vivo studies. Dr. Burgess has current external funding as PI from the CDC, NIOSH and FEMA and previous support as PI from the EPA and NIH as well.