After undergraduate majors in chemistry and pharmacology, Phil Burcham completed a PhD in biochemical toxicology in 1990 under the supervision of Dr Andrew W Harman at the University of Western Australia. He then completed postdoctoral training in molecular toxicology under Lawrence J Marnett at Vanderbilt University. After teaching pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Adelaide for 12 years he returned to Perth to establish a research group focused on studying noxious smoke constituents. His research efforts have led to 55 scientific publications. He has over 20 years experience in teaching toxicology, pharmacology and drug metabolism to science, medicine, pharmacy, podiatry and dentistry students.  His popular team-taught freshers course, Drugs that Changed the World, attracts over 400 enrolments. He currently serves on the Editorial Advisory board of Chemical Research in Toxicology and the Editorial Board of Toxicological Sciences.  He is also a member of the toxicology subsection of the Faculty of 1000 (Biology).