Robert T. Burks, MD

Dr. Burks is an experienced physician in the field of sports medicine and shoulder surgery. His practice focuses on injuries to and degenerative conditions of the shoulder and knee. Dr. Burks graduated from St. Louis University School of Medicine in 1978. He did all of his orthopedic training at the University of California at San Diego and subsequently did a sports medicine fellowship with Dr. Dale Daniel, M.D., and finished training in 1983. Upon graduation from residency Dr. Burks received an award as the outstanding senior resident of his program. From 1983 to 1986 Dr. Burks was in private practice in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1986 he felt the need to return to an academic sitting to be more involved with teaching and research and so became head of sports medicine at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan from 1986 to 1988. In the fall of 1988 he received the opportunity to move to the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and has been in that position ever since. Dr. Burks became a full tenured professor in 1999 and has been head of sports medicine at the University of Utah since 1992. Currently Dr. Burks works with all of the athletic teams at the University of Utah as well as works a busy clinical practice where people from the intermountain region with shoulder and knee problems are evaluated and treated.

Dr. Burks was selected as one of three young orthopedic surgeons by the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine to travel to Europe in 1992 for an exchange fellowship with similar sports medicine physicians in Europe. He later did a sabbatical during the summer of 1995 at the well known Steadman Hawkins Clinic in Vail, Colorado where he worked primarily with Dr. Richard Hawkins doing shoulder surgery.

In recognition of national contributions in sports medicine, Dr. Burks was elected to the Herodicus Society in 1997. This is a society of sports medicine physicians who are selected by members based on contributions to the field of sports medicine. In addition to the Herodicus Society, Dr. Burks is a member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery, the Arthroscopy Association of North America, the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine, and the American Orthopedic Association. He also is a member of the editorial team for the American Journal of Sports Medicine, Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research, as well as Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy Review.

In addition to these responsibilities, Dr. Burks is the chairman of Arthroscopic Surgery Seminars, the Robert Metcalf Memorial Arthroscopy Meeting. This is a continuation of the largest arthroscopy meeting in the United States which was founded and run for many years by Dr. Robert Metcalf. After Dr. Metcalf's death, as a tribute to his contributions to the field, the meeting has been continued and includes top physicians from the United States and around the world who are interested in advances in arthroscopic procedures.

Dr. Burks is also the head of the sports medicine fellowship at the University of Utah which has graduated 24 fellows who now practice from Australia to Germany to Canada and in multiple locations in the United States. Dr. Burks is also a member of the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons.

Dr. Burks has published 53 articles in medical journals and authored 7 book chapters