Jeff Burgess, MD, MS, MPH, is the Director of the Center for Firefighter Health Collaborative Research and Professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. He received his MD from the University of Washington, an MS in Toxicology with a Concentration in Industrial Hygiene from the University of Arizona, and an MPH in Environmental Health from the University of Washington. He previously worked as an Emergency Medicine physician, Medical Toxicologist, and Occupational and Environmental Medicine physician. 

Dr. Burgess has worked collaboratively with firefighters on health-related research for over 30 years, and since 2015 on firefighter exposures, carcinogenic mechanisms, and interventions to reduce cancer risks. The cancer prevention work started with a research partnership with the Tucson Fire Department and has since spread nationwide with the establishment of the prospective multicenter Fire Fighter Cancer Cohort Study (FFCCS).

The collaborative research has yielded insights into exposures that firefighters receive, including cancer-causing chemicals in smoke and increased levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals”. Dr. Burgess and his academic and firefighter research partners have also shown that firefighting is associated with changes in epigenetic markers on cancer related genes. This work provided support for the determination in 2022 by the International Association for Research on Cancer that occupational exposure as a firefighter causes cancer. Dr. Burgess served as an Invited Specialist for the IARC meeting. 

The research has also shown that improved use of respiratory protection and washdown of the firefighter garment and gear ensemble while worn at the fireground reduce the absorption of cancer-causing chemicals into the firefighters’ bodies. Additional work is ongoing on reduction of PFAS in the blood of firefighters and interventions to limit or reverse epigenetic changes which have the potential to reduce cancer risks.