Dr. Burch received a BSc and MSc from the University of Western Ontario in 1994 before attending medical school at the University of Toronto. Upon completion of undergraduate medical training in 1998 he entered residency in the Division of Orthopedics at the University of Toronto. Dr. Burch completed his residency in Toronto in 2004 and completed a Spine Fellowship at UCSF. During his residency Dr. Burch became interested in the treatment of metastatic spine disease and bone tumors. He identified the difficulty with current management methods of metastatic bone disease and conceived the idea of treating these disorders with photodynamic therapy (PDT). Dr. Burch has active collaborative research with the biophotonics group at the University of Toronto and the Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology (CBST) at the University California - Davis. In addition he is actively investigating the role vascular mechanisms play in the etiology of scoliosis. He has been supported in his research by CBST, the Canadian Institute of Health Research Grant and grants from the Canadian Breast Cancer Society.
