UF Director of the Genetics Institute

Dr. David P. Norton, Vice President for Research

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Thomas P. Burris as the next Director of the UF Genetics Institute (UFGI). As Director of the Genetics Institute, Dr. Burris will be responsible for leading and facilitating the University-wide strategic research initiatives in genetics, genomics, and the educational goals of the UFGI, including the coordination, design, performance, and evaluation of educational and research programs within the Institute, research acquisition, and development of both the faculty and the facility.

Dr. Burris comes to us from the Center for Clinical Pharmacology, an institute that is jointly affiliated with the Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis College of Pharmacy, where he serves as an Alumni Endowed Professor.  Prior to this, Dr. Burris held faculty positions at the St. Louis University School of Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute in Florida, and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University.  Prior to joining academia, Dr. Burris held research positions in industry at Eli Lilly and Johnson and Johnson. Dr. Burris earned his Ph.D. from Florida State University. He is currently a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences, the American Heart Association, and the Academy of Sciences – St. Louis.

In addition to serving as the Director of the UF Genetics Institute, Dr. Burris will also be granted the position of Professor within the Department of Pharmacodynamics in the College of Pharmacy. His appointments at the University of Florida begin October 1, 2021.

Let me also thank Dr. Pat Concannon for his distinguished service and leadership as Director of the Genetics Institute over the past nine years. Dr. Concannon will be returning to his faculty role within the College of Medicine in October.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Thomas Burris to the University of Florida.