Kathleen Burns (She/Her/Hers)

Kathleen Burns, M.D., Ph.D., joined Dana-Farber in 2020 as Chair of the Department of Pathology. She received her M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Baylor College of Medicine, and was recruited to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine for clinical pathology residency and hematopathology fellowship. Thereafter, she joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins, progressed through their academic ranks to Professor, and served as the pathology department's Deputy Director (Vice Chair) for Research and Director of the institution's Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP). Dr. Burns's research focuses on high copy number genomic repeats and transposable elements, their contributions to human disease, and ways to leverage our understanding of their biology to treat cancers.

Her honors include the Richard Starr Ross Physician Scientist Award from Johns Hopkins University, a Career Award for Medical Scientists from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, and membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation. She has been invited as the Inaugural Thomas Wheeler Lecturer of Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine; the Daria Haust Lecturer of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Queen’s University; and as the Scriver Family Visiting Professor in Genetic Medicine, McGill University.