SLU Professor Named Fellow of the Academy of Science

Saint Louis University researcher Thomas Burris, Ph.D., has been named a fellow of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, an organization that works to promote the advancement and understanding of science and technology in the region.

Thomas Burris, Ph.D., the William Beaumont professor and chair of the department of pharmacology and physiology at SLU, looks through a microscope.

His work in the fields of nuclear receptor biochemistry and pharmacology has led to advances in developing treatments for cancer, autism, diabetes, circadian rhythm issues, metabolic disease, autoimmune diseases and liver disease, among others.

Burris, who is the William Beaumont professor and chair of the department of pharmacology and physiology at SLU, is being given the Academy’s Fellows Award, which recognizes a distinguished individual for outstanding achievement in science.

Throughout the course of his career, Burris’s work has focused on identifying natural hormones that regulate nuclear receptors and then developing synthetic compounds to target these receptors in order to develop drugs to treat diseases.

A nationally recognized leader in the field of nuclear receptor signaling, Burris’s contributions span so many areas of human health because he studies the cellular messaging system that underlies many physiological process used by the body. His most recent NIH grant will allow Burris to study a receptor he hopes will advance the search for treatments for both autism and depression.

Burris has published more than 130 manuscripts, and these studies have been cited more than 7,500 times. His scientific achievements have been recognized by election to fellowship in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Heart Association.

The awardees will be honored at the 2016 Outstanding St. Louis Scientists awards dinner on Thursday, April 7, 2016 at the Chase Park Plaza.

Established in 1836, Saint Louis University School of Medicine has the distinction of awarding the first medical degree west of the Mississippi River. The school educates physicians and biomedical scientists, conducts medical research, and provides health care on a local, national and international level. Research at the school seeks new cures and treatments in five key areas: cancer, liver disease, heart/lung disease, aging and brain disease, and infectious diseases.