ChEnected is introducing readers to the recipients of AIChE’s 2024 Institute and Board of Directors’ Awards. These high honorees are nominated by the chemical engineering community and voted upon by the members of AIChE’s Awards Committee.
AIChE’s Industrial Research and Development Award recognizes individuals or teams working in industries served by chemical engineers, for innovation that has resulted in the commercial development of new products and/or new processes for making useful products. The award is sponsored by AbbVie.
In 2024, the Industrial R&D Award is being presented to Christopher Burcham, an Executive Director in the Synthetic Molecule Design and Development Department at Eli Lilly and Company. He is being recognized “for his contributions to the fields of crystallization, particle engineering, and process control strategies; and for bringing new therapies to market.”
Dr. Burcham and the other Institute and Board of Directors’ Award honorees will receive their prizes at the 2024 AIChE Annual Meeting, October 27–31 in San Diego, California.
I have found that being flexible and open to new opportunities has resulted in some of the greatest experiences in my career.
Introducing Chris Burcham
A Fellow of AIChE, Chris Burcham leads Eli Lilly’s Crystallization and Solids Dispersion Engineering Group, and provides the technical oversight for the company’s particle engineering and absorption enabling platforms. He also chairs Lilly’s Science Advisory Board, which provides strategic direction for Lilly’s Synthetic Molecule Design and Development Department.
At Eli Lilly, Dr. Burcham created the Particle Design Laboratory, and over his career he has been a mentor and an advisor to multiple academia-industry collaborations that have advance crystallization, mechanistic modeling, and process systems engineering. His contributions to the pharmaceutical industry have advanced innovative technologies and engineering approaches, and he has developed processes and the infrastructure to enable the commercialization of new drug therapies. Among these, he was the Scientific Team Leader for the migraine treatment Reyvow, and he has helped to launch products including Humalog, Humalin, Effient, Verzinio, and, most recently, Jaypirca.
Reflecting on his time in chemical engineering, Burcham says, “I have found that being flexible and open to new opportunities has resulted in some of the greatest experiences in my career.”
He recalls a point in his career when he was asked to lead a technical division at Lilly that was not within his immediate area of expertise. “My initial reaction when management informed me of this decision was, ‘why me?’ When I asked my supervisor why I was selected to lead this group [instead of] one that better fit my technical experience, the answer I received is one that I had never considered. I was told that they knew I could learn the technical aspects of the job, but that they needed someone who would act with integrity and diplomacy, and who would be a good collaborator.” Since then, Burcham says that he has collaborated with many talented colleagues, and that “the individuals that stand out the most are the ones that never let integrity take a back seat.”
In addition to never sacrificing integrity and never compromising on safety in the workplace, Burcham emphasizes his guiding principle of flexibility. “Have a destination in mind, but always be on the lookout to a change of course,” he advises. “You will be amazed at what you can accomplish by working hard, persevering, and taking a chance.”
Burcham received his BS from the University of Illinois, and his PhD from Princeton University, both in chemical engineering.
This fall, ChEnected is presenting profiles of all the 2024 Institute and Board of Directors’ Award recipients. Visit ChEnected regularly to meet the honorees.