Gregory P. Burger

2026 Distinguished Service Award Winner

Gregory P. Burger is a distinguished pharmacy leader with over three decades of clinical, quality, and medication safety expertise. He currently serves as a pharmacy inventory specialist at the Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center in Topeka Kansas, following leadership roles in pharmacy quality, accreditation and medication safety.

Burger has dedicated himself to building healthcare systems designed to optimize patient safety and quality of care. His extensive leadership within ASHP highlights his commitment to the profession. Recognized as a Fellow of ASHP, he currently serves on the Section on Inpatient Care Practitioners Committee on Nominations. He is the past chair of the SICP Executive Committee (2020-2021) and has contributed significantly to the Section Advisory Groups on Medication Safety and Small and Rural Hospitals. A frequent and sought-after speaker, Burger regularly presents at ASHP national meetings, including sessions like "The Great Safety Debate" series exploring the intersection of AI innovation and patient safety at the 2026 ASHP Pharmacy Futures meeting and previous Medication Safety Pearls at the ASHP Midyear. Burger has also previously served on the ASHP House of Delegates.

At the state level, Burger’s visionary leadership has shaped modern pharmacy practice in Kansas. As past president of the Kansas Council of Health-System Pharmacy (2014-2015), he championed vital legislative advancements. Working with the KCHP Government Affairs Committee, he helped successfully lobby for the passage of Kansas’s first pharmacist collaborative practice agreement and mandatory certification of pharmacy technicians. He also drove public advocacy by creating the KCHP “My Pharmacist” Public Service Announcement campaign. His exceptional contributions earned him the KCHP Volunteer of the Year Award in 2017 and the prestigious KCHP Legacy Pharmacist Award in 2021.

Burger has also served on the FDA Drug Safety and Risk Advisory Committee and the ISMP Targeted Medication Safety Best Practices Expert Advisory Panel. He also helps shape the next generation of practitioners as an adjunct clinical assistant professor at the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy where he teaches an elective on Medication Safety and Error Prevention. He holds a PharmD from the University of Kansas, a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Emporia State University and currently serves on the ESU Foundation Board of Directors. He is a Certified Professional in Patient Safety. Beyond pharmacy, he is a volunteer firefighter, EMT, and ultramarathoner.