Linda Burns, M.D

Dr. Burns is Professor of Medicine and the Fellowship Director of the Hematology, Oncology and Fellowship (HOT) Division. Dr. Burns received her M.D. in 1981 from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She completed residency training in internal medicine as well as subspecialty hematology and medical oncology training at the University of Iowa.

Dr. Burns has been a member of the faculty at the University of Minnesota since 1992. Her clinical interest is the treatment of malignant and nonmalignant hematologic disorders including lymphoma, leukemia, multiple myeloma, myelodysplasia, aplastic anemia, and blood and marrow transplantation. Her research interests focus on experimental therapy for malignant hematologic disorders including stem cell transplantation and immunotherapy, as well as complications of transplantation including infections, second cancers and late effects. As a member of the Training Committee of the American Society of Hematology, Dr. Burns has been active in the establishment of a Trainee Council. She also is the chair of a subcommittee to recommend new guidelines to the ACGME for hematology subspecialty training.

Selected Publications

Burns LJ, Daniels K, McGlave PB, Miller WJ, Ramsay NKC, Kersey JH, and Weisdorf DJ. Autologous bone marrow transplantation for relapsed and refractory Hodgkin's disease: Risk factors predictive of prolonged survival. Bone Marrow Transplantation 1995; 16:13-15.

Miller, JS, Tessmer-Tuck, J, Peirson, BA, Weisdorf, D, McGlave, P, Blazar, BR, Katsanis, E, Verfaillie, C, Lebkowski, J, Radford, JR, Jr, and Burns, LJ. Low dose subcutaneous interleukin-2 after autologous transplantation generates sustained in vivo natural killer cell activity. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 1997; 3:34-37.

Frankel, AE, Laver, JH, Willingham , MD , Burns, LJ, Ersey, JH, and Vallera DA. Therapy of patients with T-cell lymphomas and leukemias using an anti-CD7 monoclonal antibody-ricin A chain immunotoxin. Leuk Lymphoma 1997; 26: 287-298.

Cooley, S, Burns, LJ, Repka, T, and Miller, JS. Natural killer cell anti-tumor cytotoxicity against breast cancer targets is mediated by several mechanisms which are further augmented through ADCC by an antibody that recognizes LFA-3. Exp Hematol 1999; 27: 1533-41.

Burns, LJ, Weisdorf, DJ, DeFor, TE, Ogle, KM, Hammer, C, and Miller, JS. Enhancement of the anti-tumor activity of a peripheral blood progenitor cell graft by mobilization with IL-2 plus G-CSF in patients with advanced breast cancer. Exp Hematol 2000; 28: 96-103.

Lickliter JD, McGlave PB, DeFor TE, Miller JS, Ramsay NK, Verfaillie CM, Burns LJ, Wagner JE, Eastlund T, Dusenbery K, Weisdorf DJ. Matched-pair analysis of peripheral blood stem cells compared to marrow for allogeneic transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 2000; 26:723-8.

MacMillan ML, Weisdorf DJ, Davies SM, DeFor TE, Burns LJ, Ramsay NK, Wagner JE, Blazar BR. Early antithymocyte globulin therapy improves survival in patients with steroid-resistant acute graft-versus-host disease.  Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2002; 8:40-6.

Barker JN, Davies SM, DeFor TE, Burns LJ, McGlave PB, Miller JS, Weisdorf DJ. Determinants of survival after human leucocyte antigen-matched unrelated donor bone marrow transplantation in adults.  Br J Haematol 2002; 118:101-7.

MacMillan ML, Weisdorf DJ, Wagner JE, DeFor TE, Burns LJ, Ramsay NK, Davies SM, Blazar BR. Response of 443 patients to steroids as primary therapy for acute graft-versus-host disease: comparison of grading systems.  Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2002; 8:387-94.

Burns LJ, Miller W, Kandaswamy C, DeFor TE, MacMillan ML, Van Burik JA, Weisdorf DJ. Randomized clinical trial of ganciclovir vs acyclovir for prevention of cytomegalovirus antigenemia after allogeneic transplantation.  Bone Marrow Transplant 2002; 30:945-51.

Arora M, Burns LJ, Davies SM, Macmillan ML, Defor TE, Miller WJ, Weisdorf DJ. Chronic graft-versus-host disease: a prospective cohort study.  Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2003; 9:38-45.

Baker KS, DeFor TE, Burns LJ, Ramsay NK, Neglia JP, Robison LL. New malignancies after blood or marrow stem-cell transplantation in children and adults: incidence and risk factors.  J Clin Oncol 2003; 21:1352-8.  Erratum in: J Clin Oncol 2003; 21:3181. 

Lerner RE, Burns LJ. Transformed lymphoma: an Achilles' heel of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.  Bone Marrow Transplant 2003; 31:531-7 (Review).

Burns LJ, Weisdorf DJ, DeFor TE, Vesole DH, Repka TL, Blazar BR, Burger SR, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Keever-Taylor CA, Zhang MJ, Miller JS. IL-2-based immunotherapy after autologous transplantation for lymphoma and breast cancer induces immune activation and cytokine release: a phase I/II trial.  Bone Marrow Transplant 2003; 32:177-86.  

Todd RF 3rd, Gitlin SD, Burns LJ; Committee On Training Programs. Subspeciality training in hematology and oncology, 2003: results of a survey of training program directors conducted by the American Society of Hematology.  Blood 2004; 103:4383-8.

Chiorean EG, DeFor TE, Weisdorf DJ, Blazar BR, McGlave PB, Burns LJ, Brown C, Miller JS. Donor chimerism does not predict response to donor lymphocyte infusion for relapsed chronic myelogenous leukemia after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.  Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2004; 10:171-7.

Arora M, Burns LJ, Barker JN, Miller JS, Defor TE, Olujohungbe AB, Weisdorf DJ. Randomized comparison of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor versus granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor plus intensive chemotherapy for peripheral blood stem cell mobilization and autologous transplantation in multiple myeloma.  Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2004; 10:395-404.

Miller JS, Soignier Y, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, McNearney SA, Yun GH, Fautsch SK, McKenna D, Le C, Defor TE, Burns LJ, Orchard PJ, Blazar BR, Wagner JE, Slungaard A, Weisdorf DJ, Okazaki IJ, McGlave PB. Successful adoptive transfer and in vivo expansion of human haploidentical NK cells in cancer patients.  Blood 2005; 105:3051-3057.

Majhail NS, Burns LJ. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphomas. Curr Hematol Rep. 2005; 4:252-9.

Vallera DA, Brechbiel MW, Burns LJ, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Dusenbery KE, Clohisy DR, Vitetta ES. Radioimmunotherapy of CD22-expressing Daudi tumors in nude mice with a 90Y-labeled anti-CD22 monoclonal antibody. Clin Cancer Res. 2005; 11:7920-8.

Majhail NS, Weisdorf DJ, Wagner JE, Defor TE, Brunstein CG, Burns LJ. Comparable results of umbilical cord blood and HLA-matched sibling donor hematopoietic stem cell transplantation after reduced-intensity preparative regimen for advanced Hodgkin lymphoma. Blood. 2006; 107:3804-7.

Rizzo JD, Wingard JR, Tichelli A, Lee SJ, Van Lint MT, Burns LJ, Davies SM, Ferrara JL, Socie G. Recommended screening and preventive practices for long-term survivors after hematopoietic cell transplantation: joint recommendations of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research, and the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT/CIBMTR/ASBMT). Bone Marrow Transplant. 2006; 37:249-61.