GILBERT J. BURCKART, PHARM.D.

Gilbert J. Burckart, by chance, chose to major in pharmacy for college. Fortunately, the study of pharmacy came to be his forte. A recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1997, Burckart earned a B.S. from the School of Pharmacy in 1972 and a Pharm.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1975. After graduation, Burckart joined the faculty of the State University of New York at Buffalo for one year. He then left for a position at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy in 1976. Returning to the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in 1982, Burckart became the director of Clinical Programs and associate professor of Pharmacy Practice. During the same year, Burckart was able to secure a grant to start the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory. At that time, his line of research included the study of the changes that occurred after transplantation procedures and the effects of those changes on drug therapy. In 1998, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a $1,950,000 grant to Burckart and his colleagues for the study of Aerosol Cyclosporine for the Prevention of Lung Rejection.


		Gilbert J. Burckart, by chance, chose to major in pharmacy for college. Fortunately, the study of pharmacy came to be his forte. A recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award in 1997, Burckart earned a B.S. from the School of Pharmacy in 1972 and a Pharm.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1975. After graduation, Burckart joined the faculty of the State University of New York at Buffalo for one year. He then left for a position at the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy in 1976. Returning to the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy in 1982, Burckart became the director of Clinical Programs and associate professor of Pharmacy Practice. During the same year, Burckart was able to secure a grant to start the Clinical Pharmacokinetics Laboratory. At that time, his line of research included the study of the changes that occurred after transplantation procedures and the effects of those changes on drug therapy. In 1998, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded a $1,950,000 grant to Burckart and his colleagues for the study of Aerosol Cyclosporine for the Prevention of Lung Rejection.		However, Burckart has not only excelled within the sphere of research, rather, he has contributed much to the field as a clinical educator. In the past, Burckart supervised clinical clerkships at both SUNY Buffalo and the University of Tennessee. Within the School of Pharmacy, Burckart has coordinated clinical clerkships and has precepted students at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Furthermore, Burckart serves on the Institutional Review Board of the University of Pittsburgh and the Human Rights Committee of the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. Currently, Burckart holds a joint appointment as the director of Directive Research for the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery in the School of Medicine, and professor and vice-chairman for Research in the Department of Pharmacy and Therapeutics. For now, while Gilbert Burckart continues to impact and improve patient care through his research and clinical services, his son will continue his legacy at the University of Pittsburgh as a graduate of the School of Information Sciences in 2001.


	GILBERT J. BURCKART, PHARM.D.