University of Toronto

Following her fellowships, Burrows became an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at the University of Toronto and served as a scientist in the Hospital for Sick Childrens Research Institute.^[1] She also served as Director of the Centre for Infection and Biomaterials Research at Toronto General Hospital.^[2] As a new faculty member, Burrows received the Connaught New Staff Matching Award and received the Dean's Fund Competition for New Staff Award.^[3] While at Sick Children's, Burrows oversaw research into Pseudomonas aeruginosa and how the bacteria attach themselves to surfaces.^[4] In 2002, she received a two-year grant from the Kidney Foundation of Canada for her project, "Development of anti-microbial coatings for peritoneal catheters suitable for simultaneous exchange procedures."^[5] She received the 2003 George Armstrong-Peters Prize as a "young investigator who has shown outstanding productivity during his/her initial period as an independent investigator as evidenced by research publications in peer reviewed journals, grants held, and students trained."^[6][7] In 2004, Burrows received the Elsie Winifred Crann Memorial Trust Award in Medical Research and was invited to be a member of the Grants Review panels of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the National Institutes of Health.^[8] She received a Premier's Research Excellence Award from the Province of Ontario, as well as a prestigious New Investigator Award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research in 2005.

McMaster University

Burrows left the University of Toronto in 2006 to join McMaster University as a professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, where she served as Associate Chair, Research, from 2007-2017.^[1] Her research focuses on bacterial biofilms and adhesive bacterial appendages called Type IV pili (T4P) to understand how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics.^[9] Her laboratory also investigated the effectiveness of Type IV pili as components in vaccines and how they compare to other types of tuberculosis vaccines.^[10] She served as a grant reviewer and Chair (2010-2015) for the Microbiology and Infectious Diseases panel of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and as McMaster's CIHR University Delegate from 2012-2022.^[11] In March 2017, she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.^[9] The following month, she was recognized with a McMaster University Faculty Association Award for Outstanding Service.^[11] Since 2018, Burrows has served as the Associate Director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster, as well as its interim Director in 2021.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Burrows published op-eds describing the danger of the coronavirus ^[12] and encouraged Canadians to get vaccinated against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.^[13] She has also worked on the issue of limited antibiotic access in Canada, leading the McMaster Antibiotic Access and Capacity project that examined the market headwinds and structural issues in antibiotic supply, and made recommendations for improvement.

In June 2020, she was honoured with the Canadian Society of Microbiologists Murray Award for Career Achievement, the Society's highest award for researchers.^[14] She used the prize from the Murray Award to establish the CSM Burrows Award for Womxn in Microbiology, awarded annually from 2021 to a top female graduate student who demonstrates commitment to advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion. In 2021, she was elected a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences for her "outstanding research accomplishments, international leadership in the microbiology community and dedicated mentorship."^[15] Burrows was also appointed a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Microbe-Surface Interactions to fund her research on the superbug Pseudomonas aeruginosa and how it forms antibiotic-resistant biofilms.^[16] She is also interested in the potential use of bacteriophages - viruses that kill bacteria - for treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections.

In March 2023, Burrows was named the recipient of the Canadian Association for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases' John G. FitzGerald Award for her research into Pseudomonas aeruginosa.^[17] In June 2023, she received the Canadian Science Publishing Senior Investigator Award from the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences that recognizes Canadian scientists who have demonstrated inclusive excellence across a breadth of activities including research, teaching and mentorship, leadership and outreach.