The leader of the pack

[Guest guest]

The leader of the pack

By Oliveri

http://parramatta.yourguide.com.au/news/local/news/general/the-leader-of-the-pac\

k/1467959.aspx

HE is only just back from a 1200 kilometre bike ride from Sydney to Melbourne.

Now, Burns is planning to travel to the United States to research our

most common genetic nerve disease, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

Dr Burns, a senior researcher at the Institute for Neuromuscular Research at The

Children's Hospital at Westmead, is heading to Detroit after being awarded a

three-month Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholarship to research CMT, which causes

progressive muscle weakness, painful foot deformities and walking difficulty.

The Fulbright scholarship will enable Dr Burns to initiate long-term

collaboration between world leaders in many aspects of clinical and laboratory

CMT research.

The Fulbright program is the largest educational scholarship of its kind and Dr

Burns is one of 22 Australians to be recognised as a Fulbright Scholar in 2009.

``We are dedicated to improving diagnosis, evaluating state-of-the-art therapies

and establishing an internationally recognised research program to achieve

coordinated excellence of care throughout Australia and the US,'' Dr Burns said.

Last week, he returned to The Children's Hospital at Westmead after completing a

10-day cycling tour of Sydney to Melbourne.

The tour raised nearly $1million for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a crippling

disease affecting around 10,000 Australian boys.

In the middle of the ride, he flew to Hobart to accept the scholarship and then

returned to complete the tour.

``It was gruelling; there was rain and hail and strong headwinds, a few falls,

38 flat tyres and broken chains,'' Dr Burns said.

``I don't think I'll be getting on a bike for a while now.''