
Barbara Burtness MD
Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology); Interim Associate Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion; Disease Aligned Research Team Leader, Head and Neck Cancers Program; Co-Director, Developmental Therapeutics Research Program, Yale Cancer Center, New Haven, ConnecticutDr. Barbara Burtness is Professor of Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine. She is founding director of the Yale Head and Neck SPORE, co-leader of the Developmental Therapeutics Program, and director of the Head and Neck Clinical Research Program at Yale Cancer Center. Dr. Burtness graduated with an MD from SUNY at Stonybrook. She completed internship and residency at Yale-New Haven Hospital and fellowship training in oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Dr. Burtness’ research focuses on clinical trials of immunotherapy and translational studies of resistance to immunotherapy and EGFR inhibition, and synthetic lethal approaches for HPV negative head and neck cancer. She chairs the ECOG-ACRIN Head and Neck Cancer Therapeutics Committee, which conducts multi-center trials of novel treatment paradigms to improve the survival and functional outcomes of patients with all stages of head and neck cancers, and co-leads the Stand Up to Cancer Head and Neck Cancer Team. She has conducted numerous phase I–III investigator-initiated trials.
Dr. Burtness co-edits the text Molecular Determinants of Head and Neck Cancer. Her research has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including the Lancet, Journal of Clinical Oncology, Lancet Oncology, and Clinical Cancer Research.
Recent Contributions to PracticeUpdate:
- 2021 Top Story in Head and Neck Cancer: Change in Standard of Care for EBV-Related Nasopharyngeal Cancer
- Elective Neck Dissection vs Observation in Patients With Head and Neck Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma
- Hypoxia-Guided Therapy for Head and Neck Cancers
- Addition of Radiation to Chemotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer
- Avelumab-Cetuximab Radiotherapy vs Standards of Care in Locally Advanced Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck
- Nivolumab With Ipilimumab vs Reference Standard EXTREME for Metastatic Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer
- ESMO 2021: Recommendations From Dr. Barbara Burtness for Head and Neck Cancer
- Gemcitabine + Cisplatin vs Fluorouracil + Cisplatin as First-Line Therapy for Recurrent or Metastatic Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
- Treatment De-Intensification for Head and Neck Cancer
- Camrelizumab vs Placebo in Combination With Gemcitabine and Cisplatin as First-Line Treatment for Recurrent or Metastatic Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma