Kathleen Burns

Kathleen H. Burns, Ph.D., M.D., is a Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and Chair of the Department of Pathology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She previously worked at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. As of 2025, Burns became a co-editor of the Annual Review of Pathology: Mechanisms of Disease. She is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation

Early life and education Kathleen Helen Burns was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She attended the University of Southern Mississippi, completing her degree in Chemistry and Biochemistry in 1997. She was accepted into the National Institutes of Health's Medical Scientist Training Program, and completed her M.S.T.P. at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. In 2004, she was recruited to become a clinical pathology resident (2004-2007) and later chief resident (2006-2007) at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Career Following her residency, Burns joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, rising to full professor in 2018. In 2015 Burns became Deputy Director (Vice Chair) for Research and Programs for the Department of Pathology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She also served as Director of the Physician-Scientist Training Program for the school.

Research

Burns studies self-propagating retrotransposons and their role in human disease. Her research challenges the view that such elements are nonfunctional and serve as “junk DNA.” Her lab has developed techniques for mapping the mobile insertion sites of repetitive DNAs and transposable elements in the human genome. This research suggests that transposons play a role in cancer and in autoimmune diseases. LINE-1 expression is a characteristic of human cancers. The Burns lab developed the first commercial monoclonal antibody for detection of LINE-1-encoded RNA-binding protein. Burns' research on LINE-1 expression seeks to develop new treatment approaches for cancer.

Awards 2008, Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award for Medical Scientists 2018, elected member, American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) 2021, M. Daria Haust Lecturer of Pathology and Molecular Medicine, Queen's University at Kingston

Selected publications