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., Bernstein, J. N., & Hurlbut, K. (1994). Aldicarb poisoning. A case report with prolonged cholinesterase inhibition and improvement after pralidoxime therapy. Archives of internal medicine, 154(2), 221-4.

Aldicarb is the most potent of the commercially available carbamate pesticides and is an unusual source of acute human poisonings. We present the case of a 43-year-old man exposed to aldicarb who developed severe cholinergic symptoms and progressive weakness requiring intubation for 5 days. Both his red blood cell cholinesterase and plasma pseudocholinesterase levels were depressed for a minimum of 44 hours. He demonstrated neuromuscular improvement concurrent with pralidoxime administration. The pertinent medical literature on aldicarb poisoning is reviewed.

Morrissey, B., Burgess, J. L., & Robertson, W. O. (1995). Washington's experience and recommendations re: Anticoagulant rodenticides. Veterinary and Human Toxicology, 37(4), 362-363.
Burgess, J. L., & Crutchfield, C. D. (1995). Tucson fire fighter exposure to products of combustion: A risk assessment. Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene, 10(1), 37-42.
Anthony, T. R., Joggerst, P., James, L., Burgess, J. L., Leonard, S. S., & Shogren, E. S. (2007). Method development study for APR cartridge evaluation in fire overhaul exposures. Annals of Occupational Hygiene, 51(8), 703-716.
Burgess, J. L., Kurzius-Spencer, M., O'Rourke, M. K., Littau, S. R., Roberge, J. L., Meza-Montenegro, M. M., Gutiérrez-Millán, L. E., & Harris, R. B. (2013). Environmental arsenic exposure and serum matrix metalloproteinase-9. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology, 23(2), 163-169.