Dr. Burke grew up in Santa Cruz, CA, went to undergrad at San Jose State, did two years of post-bacc research at the VA Hospital in Palo Alto, CA, and received his MD and PhD from Baylor College of Medicine. He performed his PhD thesis research with Will Parsons, MD, PhD and Carl Allen, MD, PhD elaborating genomic and inflammatory mechanisms of disease pathogenesis in Langerhans cell histiocytosis at Baylor and Texas Children's Hospital. The most critical finding during his PhD was his (now) wife, after they had a chance encounter in picturesque Keystone, CO.