Katherine Burns, PhD
Associate Professor, Division Director of Environmental Genetics and Molecular University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, OH
Dr. Katherine (Katie) Burns is an Associate Professor at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in the Department of Environmental Health. She earned her PhD from the Pennsylvania State University in Pathobiology with a concentration in Toxicology. Dr. Burns did her postdoctoral research at the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences where she used a mouse model of endometriosis that recapitulates retrograde menstruation to study the roles of estrogen receptors in endometriosis. The Burns Laboratory studies how the immune system and interaction with endocrine disrupting chemicals contribute to or exacerbate endometriosis. Dr. Burns is also an endometriosis patient. During her 5th surgery, she was a subject in a clinical trial. At that point, as a PhD student, she saw the clinical and translational aspect of endometriosis, and knew her future career direction. Her goal is to contribute to endometriosis research with hope that girls become healthy reproductively competent women.