Scott W. Burchiel

1951 - 2021

Scott W. Burchiel



Scott W.

Burchiel, 70,

passed away on July 24, 2021, surrounded by his loving family.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Samuel William Burchiel and Mary

Kimmel Burchiel.

Scott was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts on May 10, 1951. Following a move to California in the mid-1960's, he attended and graduated from Shasta High School in 1969. Scott later received his BS in biochemistry from the University of California, Davis, in 1973, and a PhD in pharmacology from the University of California, San Francisco, in 1977. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the University of New Mexico School of Medicine's Immunology Laboratory before joining the UNM College of Pharmacy in 1978. Scott would go on to become an emeritus distinguished professor in UNM's Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Nunzio and Sherolyn DeSantis Endowed Chair of Pharmacogenomics.

While also a man of faith and family, as a scientist Scott was an expert in immunotoxicology and environmental carcinogenesis, and published more than 125 scientific manuscripts and received research funding from the National Institute of Health for more than 35 years. He was also an active grant reviewer for NIH and a member of Food and Drug Administration scientific advisory groups. Scott also served as editor-in-chief of Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology and was a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences. Additionally, Scott served as Associate Dean for Research in UNM's College of Pharmacy and was instrumental in securing a National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences center grant to establish the UNM Health Sciences Signature Program in Environmental Health Sciences. Scott played a key role in establishing the New Mexico Center for Isotopes in Medicine in partnership with Los Alamos National Laboratory and he was also an active collaborator with colleagues at other research universities and institutions around the world.

Scott embodied a spirit of endless curiosity, leadership and mentorship, not only in his roles as researcher and educator, but also in his personal life and relationships. Outside of science, his passions in life were family, music and traveling. While he was never more content than when spending time with his family, he was as happy singing in a church choir (or playing an accompanying trombone) as he was traveling the world with his wife, Judy, and their close group of friends. Scott was also active in the broader Albuquerque community for over 40 years, be it through coaching, volunteering or otherwise participating in a range of civic and church activities - in fact, just prior to his passing, Scott was eagerly planting flowers as part of a volunteer gardening team for a local preschool.

Scott is survived by his loving wife of 47 years, Judy Burchiel, son Andrew Burchiel and daughter Amy Boger, as well as her husband Eric Boger and their children Shelton Boger and Sophie Boger.

A memorial for Scott will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 21st at the Shepherd of the Valley Presbyterian Church, 1801 Montaño Rd NW, Albuquerque, NM 87107. For those who are unvaccinated or otherwise unable to attend, the memorial will be broadcast virtually. The family has established an endowment to support the research efforts of graduate and professional students at the UNM College of Pharmacy, and in lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Scott's honor: https://www.unmfund.org/fund/burchiel-family/