Massachusetts General Hospital | Cancer Center

Biography

Dr. James Burns is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the University of Virginia Medical School.  He completed residency in Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery in 1996 at the University of Virginia Health Science Center in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

Following the completion of his residency, he served four years on active duty with the United States Air Force between 1996 and 2000.  During that time Dr. Burns served as the medical director of the Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery service at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.  He received The Air Force Commendation Medal along with an honorable discharge from the Air Force in 2000.  After two years in private practice in Virginia, he received an additional year of training at Harvard at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in a Laryngology and Care of the Professional Voice fellowship. 

At the completion of his fellowship Dr. Burns returned to the University of Virginia as the Director of the newly formed division of Laryngology and proceeded to develop a state of the art voice center where none had previously existed. Due to his accomplishments as a standout fellow, and as a consequence of a national search, he was recruited to join the full time faculty in the Department of Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital as part of the newly formed Voice Center.  Since joining the staff, his efforts have been concentrated in the area of microlaryngeal and laryngeal framework surgery as well as head and neck cancer and endoscopic airway stenosis management.  His fellowship in laryngology had a special focus on all aspects of endoscopic microlaryngeal surgical techniques, including office-based procedures and photoangiolytic laser treatment of benign and malignant laryngeal lesions.