John F. Burke (July 22, 1922 – 2011) was an American

medical researcher Medical research (or biomedical research), also known as experimental medicine, encompasses a wide array of research, extending from "basic research" (also called ''bench science'' or ''bench research''), – involving fundamental scientif ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

widely known for his co-invention of

synthetic skin Artificial skin is a collagen scaffold that induces regeneration of skin in mammals such as humans. The term was used in the late 1970s and early 1980s to describe a new treatment for massive burns. It was later discovered that treatment of deep ski ...

in 1981, together with Dr. Ioannis V. Yannas. New York Times:Dr. John F. Burke, Dies at 89; Created Synthetic Skin;By PAUL VITELLO;November 5, 2011
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/ref> [http://articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/14/health/la-he-unreal-world-skin-20111114 Los Angeles Times:The Unreal World: The Skin I Live In In the film, a disturbed doctor develops a burn-proof skin using pig genes] New York Times:Artificial Skin Being Tested for Victims of Burns; Animal-Tissue Project Held Promising, but Additional Research Is Needed;January 5, 1976
/ref>
/ref> Burke was also widely noted for developing a system of infection control in hospitals and showing that antibiotics given before surgery lower risks of post-operative infections. Burke was head of the Shriners Burns Institute and chief of trauma services at

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

, a professor of surgery at

Life

Burke was born in

Peoria, Illinois Peoria ( ) is the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, United States, and the largest city on the Illinois River. As of the United States Census, 2020, 2020 census, the city had a population of 113,150. It is the principal city of the Peoria ...

on July 22, 1922. He received his medical degree from

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burke, John F. 1922 births 2011 deaths 20th-century American inventors American medical researchers People from Peoria, Illinois Harvard Medical School alumni