Diane J. Burgess, Ph.D.
Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutics Pfizer Distinguished Chair of Pharmaceutical Technology
University of Connecticut
Dr. Burgess received her B.Sc. degree in Pharmacy from the University of Strathclyde, U.K. (1979) and her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of London, U.K. (1984). She was a postdoctoral fellow at the Universities of Nottingham, U.K. (1984-1985) and North Carolina (1985). Dr. Burgess joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1986 as Assistant and then Associate Professor and moved to the University of Connecticut in 1993. She was promoted to Professor in 1999, and in 2009 she was appointed Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Pharmaceutics at the University of Connecticut.
Dr. Burgess has been active in teaching, research and service throughout her career. Her students have recognized her with the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award (2005 and 1992). She received the 2009 Distinguished Service award from the University of Connecticut, School of Pharmacy. In 2010, she became the first recipient of the CRSI (Controlled Release Society, India Chapter) fellowship award for outstanding contributions in drug delivery research. Dr. Burgess is the 2011 recipient of the Nagai APSJ International Women Scientist Research Achievement Award. Dr. Burgess also received the 2013 AAPS IPEC Ralph Shangraw Memorial Award for her outstanding research in the area of pharmaceutical excipients. In 2014, Dr. Burgess was recognized for her exceptional commitment in CRS, and was selected as the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award. She has over 130 refereed publications. She is the editor of two books. She has given over 330 research presentations, over 170 invited lectures, and 12 keynote addresses at major international scientific meetings; Dr. Burgess has served as major adviser for four M.S. and 22 Ph.D. graduates as well as 12 post-doctoral fellows. She is currently directing the research of seven Ph.D. students, two post-doctoral fellow, and two assistant research professors.
Dr. Burgess is a fellow of AAPS (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists) and of AIMBE (American Institute for Medical Biological Engineering). She served as elected President of AAPS in 2002 and CRS (Controlled Release Society) in 2009. She is a member of the USP Biopharmaceutics Expert committee and the USP Advisory Panel on Injectables. Dr. Burgess is editor of the International Journal of Pharmaceutics (2009 – to date). She was an editor for AAPSPharmSci (1999 - 2005) and editor of the Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology (2003 - 2008). Dr. Burgess serves on the editorial boards of seven international journals. Dr. Burgess has severed on NIH study sections on Drug Delivery and Biomedical engineering, Drug Delivery and Drug Discovery, Gene and Drug Delivery, and Nanomedicene as well as many special study sections for NIDA, NIDDK and NCI (2001- to date). In 2001 she undertook a sabbatical at the Office of Testing and Research at CDER, FDA. She consults for pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic and other industries.