ABOUT

Dr Peter Burns is Professor and past Chairman of Medical Biophysics and Professor of Radiology at the University of Toronto and Senior Scientist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto. He was born and educated in the United Kingdom. After taking first class honours in Theoretical Physics, he studied Philosophy of Science before obtaining his PhD in Radiodiagnosis at the University of Bristol. He moved to the United States in 1984 as Assistant Professor of Radiology at Yale University. He then joined the faculty of the Department of Diagnostic Radiology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia before moving to the University of Toronto in 1991. His first contributions were in blood flow detection and instrumentation for Doppler ultrasound, where he was part of the original efforts to detect blood flow perfusion in tumours. His subsequent research into ultrasound contrast agents resulted in the development of new imaging techniques including harmonic and pulse inversion imaging for tissue and microbubble contrast agents, and the first real time images of perfusion of the myocardium. He was involved in pivotal trials for the clinical approval of microbubble contrast agents for their current major indications. He has published six books, 10 patents, more than 200 peer-reviewed articles which have been cited more than 20,000 times (as of Oct 2023) and has given more than 400 invited lectures in ultrasound imaging and therapy. He is a Fellow of the American Institute for Ultrasound in Medicine, honourary member of the Italian Radiology Society, the Australasian Society for Ultrasound in Medicine, the Canadian Association of Radiologists, the Chilean Society of Radiologists and the Society for Vascular Technology. He is recipient of the Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology Clin-ical Prize; the World Federation of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology Pioneer Award, the Ian Donald Gold Medal for Technical Achievement (International Society for Ultrasound); Innovation and Excellence Trophy (Société Canadienne-Francaise de Radiologie); the bronze medal of the Canadian Association of Radiologists; the William Fry Memorial Award of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine and the Distinguished Lecturer Award of the IEEE. Dr. Burns’ current research work, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, seeks to harness microbubbles and liquid nanodroplets as vehicles to deliver drugs, as well as genetic material itself, to specifically targeted organs and lesions by means of ultrasound.