Jeffrey Burns, MD, MPH
Assoc. Chief Medical Officer, Critical Care Services; Shapiro Chair in Critical Care Medicine, Division of Critical Care Medicine; Director, OPENPediatrics; Sr. Assoc. in Critical Care Medicine; Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care & Pain Medicine
Professor of Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School
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Jeffrey Burns, MD, MPH
Assoc. Chief Medical Officer, Critical Care Services; Shapiro Chair in Critical Care Medicine, Division of Critical Care Medicine; Director, OPENPediatrics; Sr. Assoc. in Critical Care Medicine; Department of Anesthesiology, Critical Care & Pain Medicine
Professor of Anesthesia, Harvard Medical School
Medical Services
Languages
English
Education
Medical School
Tufts University School of Medicine
Boston
MA
Internship
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston
MA
Residency
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston
MA
Fellowship
Pediatric Critical Care
Boston Children's Hospital
Boston
MA
Certifications
American Board of Pediatrics (Critical Care Medicine)
Professional History
Dr. Jeffrey Burns, MD, MPH is the Shapiro Endowed Chair of Critical Care Medicine and the Associate Chief Medical Officer-Critical Care at Boston Children’s Hospital and Professor at Harvard Medical School, where his also the Emeritus Chief of Critical Care, a position he held from 2004-2024.
Dr. Burns completed his residency in Pediatrics and fellowship in Pediatric Critical Care at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. He is board certified in both Pediatrics and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine by the American Board of Pediatrics.
Dr. Burns’ research focuses on innovations in postgraduate medical education, as well as health services research on pediatric critical illness, intensive care unit organization and delivery. Dr. Burns was the founding director of the Boston Children’s Hospital Simulator Program, the first in-hospital, dedicated pediatric critical care simulator suite in the United States as well as the internationally acclaimed OPENPediatrics.org in 2008, and has published more than 200 articles, reviews, and educational media in pediatric critical care medicine. He lectures widely nationally and internationally and has held numerous leadership positions in the field including as the current President of the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive & Critical Care Societies.
He has received numerous awards over the years including the Dharmapuri Award for advancing the care of critically ill children in 2018, the Distinguished Career Award in 2020, and the Innovation in Education Award in 2025, all from the Society of Critical Care Medicine.
Publications
Olfactory Dysfunction After SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the RECOVER Adult Cohort. View Abstract
Characterizing Long COVID Symptoms During Early Childhood. View Abstract
Sex Differences in Long COVID. View Abstract
Mechanical Ventilation for Children Approaching End of Life: A PHIS Study, 2010-2019. View Abstract
Risk factors for central line-associated bloodstream infection in the pediatric intensive care setting despite standard prevention measures. View Abstract
Twenty-Five Years of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine : An Evolving Journey With the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies. View Abstract
Differentiation of Prior SARS-CoV-2 Infection and Postacute Sequelae by Standard Clinical Laboratory Measurements in the RECOVER Cohort. View Abstract
Comparing the Quality of Domain-Specific Versus General Language Models for Artificial Intelligence-Generated Differential Diagnoses in PICU Patients. View Abstract
Dynamic Prediction of Mortality Using Longitudinally Measured Pediatric Sequential Organ Failure Assessment Scores: A Joint Modeling Approach. View Abstract
Trends in Disease Severity Among Critically Ill Children With Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2: A Retrospective Multicenter Cohort Study in the United States. View Abstract
Factors Associated With Mechanical Ventilation Duration in Pediatric Burn Patients in a Regional Burn Center in the United States. View Abstract
Epidemiology of Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children: A Step Closer to Understanding Who, Where, and When. View Abstract
Why Is Antibiotic Treatment Rarely Performed in COVID-19-Positive Children Admitted in Pediatric Intensive Care Units?-Reply. View Abstract
Complexities of the COVID-19 vaccine and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. View Abstract
Pediatric Resident Engagement With an Online Critical Care Curriculum During the Intensive Care Rotation. View Abstract
Characteristics and Outcomes of Children With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Infection Admitted to US and Canadian Pediatric Intensive Care Units. View Abstract
Toward a Better Understanding of Burnout Syndrome: Lump less, Split More. View Abstract
Is It Time to Move Beyond Observational Studies of the Epidemiology and Mode of PICU Deaths? View Abstract
Clinical Documentation for Intensivists: The Impact of Diagnosis Documentation. View Abstract
Online Learning and Residents' Acquisition of Mechanical Ventilation Knowledge: Sequencing Matters. View Abstract
Clinical Documentation for Intensivists: The Impact of Diagnosis Documentation. View Abstract
Optimal Informed Consent for the Critically Ill Patient-Difficult to Define, but We Know It When We See It. View Abstract
Growth and Changing Characteristics of Pediatric Intensive Care 2001-2016. View Abstract
Epidemiology of childhood death in Australian and New Zealand intensive care units. View Abstract
Quality improvement in pediatric intensive care: A systematic review of the literature. View Abstract
Frameworks for quality improvement in pediatric intensive care: A concise review. View Abstract
Misinformed Consent: Are We Falling Short in Teaching Trainees Shared Decision-Making? View Abstract
Is "See One, Do One, Teach One" Still Relevant in the 21st Century? View Abstract
The Top Ten Websites in Critical Care Medicine Education Today. View Abstract
Reading the Smoke Signals: What Is the Meaning of Burnout Among Pediatric Critical Care Physicians? View Abstract
Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Training: 2004-2016. View Abstract
The birth of a new pediatric medical journal: Pediatric Investigation. View Abstract
Better Late Than Never? Deferred Consent for Minimal Risk Research in the ICU. View Abstract
Caring for Long Length of Stay Patients in the Neonatal ICU and PICU: How Do We Ensure Coherent Decisions When the Physicians Are Continuously Rotating? View Abstract
Building a Global, Online Community of Practice: The OPENPediatrics World Shared Practices Video Series. View Abstract
Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Therapy at Home: Broadening the View of End-of-Life Care in the PICU…Even in Children's Homes. View Abstract
Test-Enhanced E-Learning Strategies in Postgraduate Medical Education: A Randomized Cohort Study. View Abstract
The DNR Order after 40 Years. View Abstract
Measuring and Improving, Not Just Describing-The Next Imperative for End-of-Life Care. View Abstract
Bereaved Parents' Decisions About Organ Donation: Known Knowns and Known Unknowns. View Abstract
Tools for revealing uncomfortable truths? Measuring child-centred health-related quality of life after paediatric intensive care. View Abstract
Seeking consent from those who cannot answer: new light on emergency research conducted under the exception from informed consent. View Abstract
If nothing goes wrong, is everything all right? Why we should be wary of zero numerators. View Abstract
Epidemiology of death in the PICU at five U.S. teaching hospitals*. View Abstract
Transforming critical care education and career development for the 21st century-time to move beyond the walls*. View Abstract
The development of an internet-based knowledge exchange platform for pediatric critical care clinicians worldwide*. View Abstract
Who should get pediatric intensive care when not all can? A call for international guidelines on allocation of pediatric intensive care resources*. View Abstract
Examining knowledge, attitudes, and behavior-the unique function of survey research in illuminating ethical concerns in the practice of intensive care. View Abstract
Critical care in the age of the duty hour regulations: circadian-based scheduling, standardized handoffs, and the flipped classroom?. View Abstract
Teaching trainees to perform procedures on critically ill children: ethical concerns and emerging solutions. View Abstract
Head computed tomography scanning during pediatric neurocritical care: diagnostic yield and the utility of portable studies. View Abstract
Research agendas: when the roadmap lacks a compass, we are all lost. View Abstract
Internet-based learning and applications for critical care medicine. View Abstract
Gender assignment for newborns with 46XY cloacal exstrophy: a 6-year followup survey of pediatric urologists. View Abstract
Ethical concerns in the management of pain in the neonate. View Abstract
Successful and safe delivery of anesthesia and perioperative care for children with complex special health care needs. View Abstract
Simulation at the point of care: reduced-cost, in situ training via a mobile cart. View Abstract
Futility: the limits of mediation. View Abstract
Futility: a concept in evolution. View Abstract
Toward interventions to improve end-of-life care in the pediatric intensive care unit. View Abstract
Pediatric cardiac critical care patients should be cared for by intensivists. View Abstract
Intensivist-led team approach to critical care of children with heart disease. View Abstract
Ask the ethicist. Does anyone actually invoke their hospital futility policy? View Abstract
Sex assignment for newborns with ambiguous genitalia and exposure to fetal testosterone: attitudes and practices of pediatric urologists. View Abstract
Improving the quality of end-of-life care in the pediatric intensive care unit: parents' priorities and recommendations. View Abstract
Toward a new paradigm in hospital-based pediatric education: the development of an onsite simulator program. View Abstract
Is there any consensus about end-of-life care in pediatrics? View Abstract
Prenatal consultation practices at the border of viability: a regional survey. View Abstract
Do-not-resuscitate orders in the surgical setting. View Abstract
Does anyone actually invoke their hospital futility policy? View Abstract
Delivery room decision-making at the threshold of viability. View Abstract
End-of-life care in the pediatric intensive care unit: research review and recommendations. View Abstract
Congenital neurodevelopmental diagnoses and an intensive care unit: defining a population. View Abstract
Decision making and satisfaction with care in the pediatric intensive care unit: findings from a controlled clinical trial. View Abstract
Nature of conflict in the care of pediatric intensive care patients with prolonged stay. View Abstract
Results of a clinical trial on care improvement for the critically ill. View Abstract
Conflict in the care of patients with prolonged stay in the ICU: types, sources, and predictors. View Abstract
Do-not-resuscitate order after 25 years. View Abstract
Septic shock in the pediatric patient: Pathogenesis and novel treatments. View Abstract
Research in children. View Abstract
Guidelines for perioperative do-not-resuscitate policies. View Abstract
Excellence in end-of-life care: a goal for intensivists. View Abstract
Respiratory support in spinal muscular atrophy type I: a survey of physician practices and attitudes. View Abstract
Parental perspectives on end-of-life care in the pediatric intensive care unit. View Abstract
Recommendations for end-of-life care in the intensive care unit: The Ethics Committee of the Society of Critical Care Medicine. View Abstract
End-of-life care in the pediatric intensive care unit: attitudes and practices of pediatric critical care physicians and nurses. View Abstract
End-of-life care in the pediatric intensive care unit after the forgoing of life-sustaining treatment. View Abstract
Pharmacologic paralysis and withdrawal of mechanical ventilation at the end of life. View Abstract
From case to policy: institutional ethics at a children's hospital. View Abstract
DNR in the OR: a goal-directed approach. View Abstract
Ethical controversies in pediatric critical care. View Abstract
Using newly deceased patients to teach resuscitation procedures. View Abstract
To breathe or not to breathe. View Abstract