SLUCOR Director to Lead College for Public Health and Social Justice

Thomas Burroughs, Ph.D., executive director of Saint Louis University’s Center for Health Outcomes Research (SLUCOR), has been appointed to a three-year term as interim dean of the College for Public Health and Social Justice. He will succeed Collins Airhihenbuwa, Ph.D., who is stepping down from the position on July 1.

Burroughs has been part of the public health family at SLU since 1999, when he began teaching biostatistics courses as an adjunct professor in the then-named School of Public Health. He joined the University fulltime as SLUCOR’s executive director in 2003.

In addition to leading SLUCOR, Burroughs holds faculty appointments in the College for Public Health and Social Justice as a professor of health management and policy, as well as in the School of Medicine as a professor of internal medicine.

“Tom’s leadership of the Center for Health Outcomes Research has been stellar,” said University Provost Nancy Brickhouse. “He has great experience both in academia and in corporate settings. His leadership style is characterized by collaborative problem-solving and sound judgment. I am confident that he is the right person to lead the college at this time toward greater impact aligned with our mission.”

“I am excited for this opportunity to work even more closely with the talented and dedicated faculty, staff and students in the college,” Burroughs said. “Working together, I know that we can build upon the great synergies we have among the College for Public Health and Social Justice, SLUCOR, the School of Medicine, SLUCare and our health care partner SSM Health St Louis.”

Growing up, Burroughs was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Today, in his research he uses national data for 34 million Americans with diabetes to explore the utilization and outcomes of insulin pumps and continuous blood glucose monitors. Burroughs’ research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Veterans Administration, private foundations and corporations. He has also published more than 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters.

Prior to working at Saint Louis University, Burroughs was the corporate director of performance measurement for BJC HealthCare, where he was the principal architect of a nationally recognized clinical monitoring and reporting system that earned a National Quality Management Award from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society in 1999. 

Burroughs holds graduate degrees in mathematical statistics from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville and psychology from Washington University in St. Louis, where he began his research career working with faculty in the Brown School of Social Work.

SLUCOR will remain an independent degree-granting center at the University, reporting to Kevin Behrns, M.D., vice president for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine. SLUCOR’s deputy director, Leslie Hinyard, Ph.D., will run the center’s daily operations, reporting to Burroughs.

“Throughout his career, Tom has demonstrated an ability to build bridges, which is a particularly important skill given the changing landscape of health care and the intersection of public health and medicine today,” Behrns said.