James Bracken Burns Jr DO, FACS

James Burns Jr, DO was born and raised in Washington, Pennsylvania. Prior to this opportunity, Burns was on the faculty at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Jacksonville for almost nine years. Burns moved here for an exceptional opportunity to be on the faculty at East Tennessee State University Department of Surgery and to be the Medical Director of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care at Johnson City Medical Center. It was a great chance to develop a nationally recognized rural acute care surgery program. This is such a beautiful area, and Burns was impressed with how friendly people were when Burns first interviewed.

Burns grew up in a pre-hospital background and worked EMS Burns love the specialty of trauma and found it was what Burns always came back to—helping people on their worst day. However, the biggest influence in medicine was the father. He was in the first-ever paramedic class in Pennsylvania. Burns grew up learning how to help people, whether less fortunate than, sick or injured. As a provider, Burns most enjoy taking care of people. In trauma, we often see patients on their worst day. Helping them heal and recover is a process, and it can be awesome to see. I’ve been married to my wife for 17 years. daughter attends University School and runs cross-country and track. son also attends UH and plays soccer for FC Dallas Tri. We have two rescue dogs, Lucky and Simon. Burns coach travels soccer whenever Burns am able for son’s team.