Dr. Burgess is a graduate of Emory University School of Dentistry. He received his MS in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, completed a one-year General Practice Residency and a two-year General Dentistry Residency. Currently, Dr. Burgess is the assistant Dean for Clinical research at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, as well as Director of the Graduate Biomaterials Program.

He has served as a military consultant in general dentistry to the Air Force Surgeon General. He received certification from the American Board of Dentistry and is a diplomat of the Federal Services Board of General Dentistry. He is a member of the American Academy of Esthetic Dentistry, The Academy of Restorative Dentistry, the American Dental Association, the American and International Association for Dental Research, and the Academy of Operative Dentistry. Dr. Burgess is a fellow of the Academy of Dental Materials and the American College of Dentists. A prolific researcher, Dr. Burgess has published more than 300 articles, abstracts and textbook chapters and currently receives research funding from the NIDCR and industry.

He is a reviewer for four dental journals and is a member of the advisory board for the Dental Advisor and the Editorial Board for Inside Dentistry. He is a past chair of the Biomaterials Section of the American Association for Dental Schools and has served on the Executive Board for the American Association for Dental Research. Currently, he is a member of the American Dental Association’s Council on Scientific Affairs and a member of two ADA MD 156 committees on specification development for materials and devices.  He is active in clinical evaluations of dental materials and is an investigator on clinical protocols evaluating adhesives, ceramic restoratives, fluoride releasing materials, low shrinkage posterior composites and impression materials. Dr. Burgess lectures extensively nationally and internationally and has presented more than 900 continuing education courses. Dr. Burgess and his wife, Patricia, reside in Birmingham, Alabama.