Jefferey L Burgess

Jefferey L Burgess

Professor, Public Health
Adjunct Professor, Mining and Geological Engineering
Professor, BIO5 Institute
Member of the General Faculty
Member of the Graduate Faculty
Primary Department
Contact
(520) 626-4918

Research Interest

Jefferey L. Burgess, MD, MS, MPH is a Professor and Division Director of Community, Environment and Policy within the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Dr. Burgess’ research focuses on improving occupational health and safety, with a special focus on firefighters, other public safety personnel and miners. Areas of current and past research include: reduction of occupational exposures, illnesses and injuries; respiratory toxicology; environmental arsenic exposure; and hazardous materials exposures including methamphetamine laboratories. In addition to multiple research grants, Dr. Burgess is the Principal Investigator (PI) for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded Mountain West Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Center and a joint PI for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health-funded Western Mining Safety and Health Resource Center. Dr. Burgess is internationally recognized for his research evaluating the health effects of firefighting and methods for reducing firefighter exposures and other hazards, including but not limited to improved respiratory protection and injury prevention. He is also internationally known for his work on mining health and safety, and is a co-PI on a large Science Foundation Arizona grant supporting mining risk management, exposure assessment and control and economic analysis of health and safety systems. A separate ongoing grant is focused on comparing exposures and health effects associated with the use of diesel and biodiesel blend fuels in underground mining. He also has carried out multiple research projects on the adverse effects of low-level arsenic exposure in drinking water and more recently has begun to evaluate exposures from dietary arsenic sources.

Publications

Burgess, J. L., & Crutchfield, C. D. (1995). Quantitative respirator fit tests of Tucson fire fighters and measurement of negative pressure excursions during exertion. Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 10(1), 29-36.
Lutz, E. A., Reed, R. J., Lee, V. S., & Burgess, J. L. (2015). Occupational exposures to emissions from combustion of diesel and alternative fuels in underground mining--a simulated pilot study. Journal of occupational and environmental hygiene, 12(3), D18-25.

Diesel fuel is commonly used for underground mining equipment, yet diesel engine exhaust is a known human carcinogen. Alternative fuels, including biodiesel, and a natural gas/diesel blend, offer the potential to reduce engine emissions and associated health effects. For this pilot study, exposure monitoring was performed in an underground mine during operation of a load-haul-dump vehicle. Use of low-sulfur diesel, 75% biodiesel/25% diesel blend (B75), and natural gas/diesel blend (GD) fuels were compared. Personal samples were collected for total and respirable diesel particulate matter (tDPM and rDPM, respectively) and total and respirable elemental and organic carbon (tEC, rEC, tOC, rOC, respectively), as well as carbon monoxide (CO), formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, naphthalene, nitric oxide (NO), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Compared to diesel, B75 use was associated with a 33% reduction in rDPM, reductions in rEC, tEC, and naphthalene, increased tDPM, tOC, and NO, and no change in rOC, CO, and NO2. Compared to diesel, GD was associated with a 66% reduction in rDPM and a reduction in all other exposures except CO. The alternative fuels tested both resulted in reduced rDPM, which is the basis for the current Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) occupational exposure standard. Although additional study is needed with a wider variety of equipment, use of alternative fuels have the promise of reducing exposures from vehicular exhaust in underground mining settings.

Luderer, U., Burgess, J. L., Polifka, J. E., & Robertson, W. O. (1999). Calls on reproductive and developmental toxicants to a regional Poison Center. Veterinary and Human Toxicology, 41(1), 42-46.
Thrasher, D. L., Derau, K. v., & Burgess, J. L. (2009). Health effects from reported exposure to methamphetamine labs: A poison center-based study. Journal of Medical Toxicology, 5(4), 200-204.
Burgess, J. L., Kovalchick, D. F., Siegel, E. M., Hysong, T. A., & McCurdy, S. A. (2002). Medical surveillance of clandestine drug laboratory investigators. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 44(2), 184-189.