Professor Sir John Burn (born 6 February 1952) is a British

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who pr ...

Clinical Genetics Medical genetics is the branch tics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to medicine, while medical genetics refers to the application of genetics to medical care. For example, research on the caus ...

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public university, public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is ...

and senior leader in England's

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

.John Burn in Debretts

Education

Burn was born and raised in the North East of England. He was educated at Barnard Castle Grammar School, (now Teesdale School) and

Newcastle University Medical School Newcastle University School of Medicine is the medical school at Newcastle University in England. It was established in 1834 in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and served as the College of Medicine in connection with Durham University from 1851 ...

from 1976 to 1980 where he was awarded a

Bachelor of Medical Sciences A Bachelor of Medical Sciences (BMedSci, BMedSc, BSc(Med), BMSc) is an undergraduate academic degree involving study of a variety of disciplines related to human health leading to an in depth understanding of human biology and associated research s ...

(BMedSci) degree in 1973, a

Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery ( la, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Baccalaureus Chirurgiae; abbreviated most commonly MBBS), is the primary medical degree awarded by medical schools in countries that follow the tradition of the United King ...

(MB BS) in 1976 and a

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin language, Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a profes ...

(MD) degree in 1991.

Career and research

Marsh Family with John and Linda Burn on 8 November 2021

Burn has been Professor of Clinical Genetics at Newcastle University since 1991 and a consultant specialist since 1984. He is a recognised authority on the genetics of cancer. He led the regional NHS Genetics Service for 20 years and helped to create the

Centre for Life The Centre for Life is a science village in Newcastle upon Tyne where scientists, clinicians, educationalists and business people work to promote the advancement of the life sciences. The centre is a registered charity, governed by a board of ...

which houses an education and science centre alongside the Institute of Genetic Medicine and Northgene Ltd, the identity testing company he launched in 1995. He chairs DNA device company QuantuMDx. Between 2014 and 2018, he was a

non-executive director A non-executive director (abbreviated to non-exec, NED or NXD), independent director or external director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation, such as a company, cooperative or non-government organization, but not a member of the ...

NHS England NHS England, officially the NHS Commissioning Board, is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care. It oversees the budget, planning, delivery and day-to-day operation of the commissioning side of the ...

. In 2016, he was appointed Executive Chairman of Global Variome Ltd, a not-for-profit company supporting services to the international coordination work of the

Human Variome Project The Human Variome Project (HVP) is the global initiative to collect and curate all human genetic variation affecting human health. Its mission is to improve health outcomes by facilitating the unification of data on human genetic variation and i ...

. In 2017, he became Chair of Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Awards and honours

In 2010, Burn was appointed

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for outstanding services to medicine. He was chosen as one of the first 20 ‘local heroes’ to be commemorated with a brass plaque on Newcastle Quayside in 2014, and the following year, he received the Living North award for services to the North East 2000 – 2015. The Harveian Oration 2019 was delivered by Burn, his lecture ‘''Prediction and prevention in the genomic era’'', outlined the history of genetic medicine, presented the challenges in using genetics to predict medical conditions and explained how he looks forward to seeing if we can use its full potential to prevent disease in the future. In 2020, Burn was selected as the incumbent of the 2020 Niehaus, Southworth, Weissenbach Award and Visiting Professorship in Clinical Cancer Genetics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The award recognises leaders in the translation of germline genetics to preventive care of cancer patients and their families. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Burn did not receive his award and present his lecture until May 2021.

Media interest

He was interviewed by

Jim Al-Khalili Jameel Sadik "Jim" Al-Khalili ( ar, جميل صادق الخليلي; born 20 September 1962) is an Iraqi-British theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. He is professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in scien ...

for ''

The Life Scientific ''The Life Scientific'' is a BBC Radio 4 science programme, presented by Professor Jim Al-Khalili , in which each episode is dedicated to the biography and work of one living scientist. The programme consists of an interview between Al-Khalili a ...

'' on Radio 4 first broadcast in February 2018. Burn's daughter, son in law and grandkids earned national fame since the first lockdown in 2020 with a series of entertaining and quirky cover versions performed in their front room. The family surprised Burn with their Prostatectomy song, in homage to the successful operation he had to remove his prostate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burn, John Living people British geneticists Knights Bachelor NIHR Senior Investigators 1952 births