Lily Burns

Associate Provost for Administrative Affairs

Lily Burns has worked in higher education for more than 25 years. Prior to joining MBZUAI, Lily spent over 11 years working at New York University-Abu Dhabi. Most recently she served as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Campus Services and Safety and oversaw all campus operations, security, space planning, health and safety, and led the Operations Portfolio during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before moving to the UAE, Burns worked. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for 10 years. She worked closely with the faculty on policies, governance, procedures and curriculum development. She was also responsible for the external relations area at the joint MIT-Harvard Medical School program in health sciences and technology.

Burns started her higher education career working at Harvard Business School. She holds a Masters of Administration in Intercultural Relations from the Lesley University, USA.