Fullbright Scholar Josh Burns joins Dr. Shy's CMT Team at Wayne State

[Guest guest]

University of Sydney faculty member to join School of Medicine as Fulbright

Scholar

http://prognosis.med.wayne.edu/article/university-of-sydney-faculty-member-to-jo\

in-school-of-medicine-as-fulbright-scholar

The Wayne State University School of Medicine welcomes Burns, who will

spend three months here as a 2009 Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar.

Dr. Burns is a faculty member of the University of Sydney, Australia, and a

National Health and Medical Research Council Australian Clinical Research Fellow

at the Institute for Neuromuscular Research (Children's Hospital Westmead). He

will work with Shy, M.D., and other researchers in the Department of

Neurology and the Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics to undertake

research on Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

CMT is the most common genetic nerve disease that causes progressive muscle

weakness, painful foot deformities and walking difficulty. He will use his

Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholarship to initiate long-term collaboration between a

unique group of experts who are world leaders in many aspects of clinical and

laboratory CMT research.

" Between the Institute for Neuromuscular Research and the Department of

Neurology and Center for Molecular Medicine and Genetics at Wayne State

University, we care for thousands of children and adults with CMT, " Dr. Burns

said. " We are dedicated to improving diagnosis, evaluating state-of-the-art

therapies and establishing an internationally recognized research program to

achieve coordinated excellence of care throughout Australia and the U.S. "

The ultimate goal of this international collaboration is to dedicate clinical

research focus on alleviating the burden of CMT, for both patients and society.

" We are extremely happy to have Dr. Burns working with us this summer and fall, "

Dr. Shy said. " One of the major challenges in developing treatments for patients

with inherited neuropathies is that many of these diseases significantly affect

children and young adults. There are few methods in place to evaluate disease

progression in these patients and how impairment from the neuropathies alters

their quality of life. Dr. Burns, in his young career, has already achieved an

international reputation in these areas and his working with our group will

accelerate research in these areas throughout the world. We are proud that he

sought out our program at WSU to conduct his Fulbright fellowship and look

forward to continued international collaborations between our two universities. "

Dr. Burns has a bachelor's degree of Applied Science (Podiatry) with First Class

Honors from the University of Western Sydney and a doctorate degree in

Physiotherapy from the University of Sydney. He has won several awards,

including the University Medal for the Highest Honors Research Result, the Young

Tall Poppy Science Award for outstanding achievement in Podiatry and Pediatric

Neurology, an NHMRC Australian Clinical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship and the

Novel Award for excellence in biomechanical foot pressure research.