Dr. Burns completed his medical degree and residency at the University of Western Ontario. He also holds a Master’s degree in epidemiology from the University of Cambridge. Following advanced fellowship training in complex mitral valve repair (Bristol Heart Institute) as well as robotic and minimally invasive cardiac surgery (Cleveland Clinic), he was promoted to the Cleveland Clinic surgical staff in 2019. In June of 2020 he was appointed Assistant Professor of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University.
During his Cleveland Clinic tenure, Dr. Burns was recognized as a national leader in mitral valve surgery by the Mitral Foundation and the American Heart Association, as part of the Mitral Valve Repair Reference Center Award Program. He also developed considerable expertise in the management of aortic disease, multivalve endocarditis, and re-operative cardiac surgery. After 6 years at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Burns is thrilled to have been recruited back to Canada and the University of Toronto, joining the Terrence Donnelly Heart Centre of St. Michael’s Hospital in June of 2024.
In addition to his clinical work, Dr. Burns is an active clinical researcher, with numerous publications examining clinical outcomes in mitral valve, aortic, and heart failure patients. He also recently completed a 3-year term as Associate Statistical Editor for the Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery and is an Associate Editor for Innovations: Technology and Techniques in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery.