Teresa (Terri) Burgess, PhD, has deep experience in biopharma drug research, development and leadership. Dr. Burgess began her 20-year career at Amgen as a research scientist and rose to serve more than 10 years as director within Amgen’s Oncology Research organization. During her journey, she developed a breadth of technical expertise and leadership experience integrating drug discovery, target validation, IND-enabling preclinical studies, regulatory science and clinical trials across Amgen’s multi-modality drug platforms.  

Dr. Burgess co-founded Paradigm Shift Therapeutics (PSTx) in 2014 to identify drug candidates with the potential to enhance immune surveillance. PSTx was founded with a mission to bring social responsibility to drug development with the end goal of creating affordable drugs that are accessible to all. 

Her professional experience also includes service as chair and vice chair for the California Breast Cancer Research Program (CBCRP) and as an ad hoc reviewer for federal grants and professional journals. She has been active in educational and mentoring programs at the local, state and national levels throughout her career. Dr. Burgess obtained her AB from University of California, Berkeley; her PhD from University of California, San Francisco (biochemistry and biophysics); and was a Helen Hay Whitney postdoctoral fellow at University of California, Santa Barbara.  

She has published widely in top research and medical journals throughout her career. Most recently, she has begun consulting for small- and medium-sized biotech firms, sharing her expertise in pre-clinical critical path and IND enabling study plans.