Stephen Burns, MD

Associate Professor
Rehabilitation Physician

Patient Care
Dr. Burns' clinical interests include his work as staff physician on the Spinal Cord Injury Unit and the Electrodiagnostic Medicine Laboratory at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System

Research
Dr. Burns's research interests are respiratory complications in people with SCI, sleep apnea (prevalence, health implications, and treatment), pneumonia, and ventilator management. He is also studying strength in people with SCI, e.g., neuromuscular function in weak, incompletely paralyzed muscles, spontaneous strength recovery after acute SCI, and strength measurement methods. Dr. Burns is site coordinator and executive committee member on research in a national program initiative to evaluate spinal cord medicine clinical practice guidelines. He is also a member of the Neurologic Standards Committee of the American Spinal Injury Association.

Teaching
Dr. Burns is a preceptor for the University of Washington School of Medicine Chronic Disease and Disability Clerkships (Rehab 685, 687 - Note:  course numbers may be different with the new rotation) and is an instructor for the Problem-Based Learning Musculoskeletal Course (HuBio 553).

Training
He earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Brown University and his medical degree at Brown University School of Medicine. He did his residency in PM&R at the University of Washington and the Thomas Jefferson University.

Selected Publications:

Burns SP, Golding DG, Rolle WA, Graziani V, Ditunno JF. Recovery of ambulation in motor-incomplete tetraplegia. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 1997;78:1169-1172.

Burns SP, Little JW, Hussey JD, Lyman P, Lakshminarayanan S. Sleep apnea syndrome in chronic spinal cord injury: associated factors and treatment. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 2000;81:1334-9.

Burns SP , Weaver FM, Parada JP, Evans CT, Chang H, Hampton RY, Kapur V. Management of community-acquired pneumonia in persons with spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 2004;42(8):450-458.

Burns SP , Breuninger A, Kaplan C, Marin H. Hand-held dynamometry in persons with tetraplegia: comparison of make versus break testing techniques. Am J Phys Med Rehabil [in press].

Burns SP , Nelson AL, Bosshart HT, Goetz LL, Harrow JJ, Gerhart KD, Bowers H, Krasnicka B, Guihan M. Implementation of clinical practice guidelines for prevention of thromboembolism in spinal cord injury. J Spinal Cord Med [in press].