Jeffrey Burns

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.