Christopher R. Burke, MD, is a board-certified cardiothoracic surgeon, Associate Program Director of the Cardiothoracic Surgery Residency Program, Co-Director of the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Aortic Program, and an Associate Professor of Cardiac Surgery.

Dr. Burke specializes in the treatment of complex thoracic aortic disease, especially thoracic aortic aneurysms and aortic valve pathology. Dr. Burke has advanced aortic surgical training and completed a post-graduate fellowship under the mentorship of Dr. Joseph Bavaria at The University of Pennsylvania. During this time, he learned aortic valve reparative techniques, advanced aortic endovascular interventions, as well as complex open repair for aortic pathology. Dr. Burke also has expertise in extracorporeal life support (ECLS), having completed a fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Burke's approach to patient care is simple: he believes in striving to provide world class thoracic aortic care for patients' in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. He approaches every clinical decision as if he were treating a family member. He recognizes the magnitude of his patients' diagnoses on their life and is committed to being an advocate both pre and post-operatively.

Dr. Burke actively participates in multi-disciplinary clinical research focusing on advanced imaging techniques of aortic aneurysms, stroke identification and prevention during major aortic surgery, and clinical outcomes related to thoracic aortic surgery. To support the care of patients with complex aneurysms he helped create and now co-directs the Multidisciplinary Thoracic Aortic Program “MTAP” team. The team of both Cardiac and Vascular Surgeons as well as Genetics researchers collaborate to provide the best care possible. Visit sites.uw.edu/uwmtap for more information. He also serves as an author on UpToDate for several topics associated with thoracic aortic disease.

Dr. Burke is also a global leader in performing the Ross Procedure, highly specialized operation to replace an aortic valve using the patient's own pulmonary valve from the right side of the heart. The pulmonary valve is then usually replaced with a human pulmonary valve (pulmonary homograft). You can learn more on the UW Medicine Heart Institute’s Ross Procedure website.