Dr. Burns Naas is Vice President of Drug Safety Evaluation at Gilead Sciences, Inc. She was a Therapeutic Area Leader for Infectious Disease, Vaccines, and Oncology at Pfizer in Drug Safety research and Development over the 10 years preceding her move to Gilead. Prior to that, she worked as a product toxicologist in Health, Environmental, and regulatory Affairs at Dow Corning Corporation in Midland, Michigan. Throughout her career, her work has focused on strategic aspects and the design of safety programs to support chemical product development and registration, and to support the clinical development and licensure for small molecules and biotherapeutics, including vaccines. Dr. Burns Naas has been active in both the Society of Toxicology (SOT) and the American College of Toxicology (ACT) serving on several committees both elected and appointed in both, and serves on the Editorial Board for two journals.

Dr. Burns has demonstrated a long commitment to promoting advancements in basic and applied toxicology, the impact of science on human and environmental health across multiple scientific organizations and in the literature, and to participating in the training/education of the next generation of toxicologists. Dr. Burns Naas received her doctorate degree in pharmacology and toxicology from the Medical College of Virginia/VCU in 1992 with an emphasis on immunotoxicology.