University of Illinois Cancer Center member Joanna Burdette will be honored by the University of Illinois Chicago College of Pharmacy at an investiture ceremony on Wednesday, Sept. 15, at 4:30 p.m. Burdette has been named the inaugural Dr. Edward S. Mika and Mrs. Josephine E. Mika Professor of Pharmacognosy and Medicinal Chemistry.
A co-leader of the Cancer Center’s Tumor Biology program, Burdette, PhD, has developed three-dimensional models of the fallopian tube to define early events responsible for high grade serous ovarian cancer formation. She is interested in using natural products for anti-cancer activity.
Burdette’s research is funded by the American Cancer Society, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund and the National Institute of Health’s National Cancer Institute. She was the recipient of the Liz Tilberis Scholar Award from the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, was named a UIC Rising Star and UIC Research of the Year in Basic Life Sciences. In addition to being professor of pharmaceutical sciences, Burdette serves as Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Programs in the UIC College of Pharmacy, and Center Affiliate at the Center for Biomolecular Sciences.
“I am extremely humbled to be named the first Dr. Edward S. Mika and Mrs. Josephine E. Mika Professor of Pharmacognosy and Medicinal Chemistry at UIC,” Burdette said. “Dr. Mika was one of the first pharmacognosy faculty hired at UIC, and he had a storied career researching the chemical composition, growth and development of medicinal plants. I, like Dr. Mika, have a passion for natural products and the interdisciplinary science that is part of pharmacognosy.”
“It’s a tremendous honor for Dr. Joanna Burdette to be selected as the inaugural Dr. Edward S. Mika and Mrs. Josephine E. Mika Professor of Pharmacognosy and Medicinal Chemistry,” said Cancer Center Director Jan Kitajewski, PhD. “The Cancer Center congratulates her on this well-deserved recognition and we are grateful for her leadership as the Cancer Biology Program co-lead and for her cutting-edge ovarian cancer research.”