Dr. Burt is chief of the Division of Immunotherapy, Department of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Burt pioneered the use of hematopoietic stem cells to treat autoimmune diseases. Dr. Burt performed either America’s first or the world’s first autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplants for numerous immune-mediated diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, myasthenia gravis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Crohn’s disease, polymyositis, bullous pemphigus, chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, Behcet’s disease, neurovascular or pulmonary Sjogrens’s syndrome, Wegener’s granulmatosis, Arron’s syndrome (immune-mediated blindness), Devic’s syndrome, and type 1 diabetes.
Dr. Burt is the leader of randomized, controlled stem cell trials currently ongoing for: 1) systemic sclerosis: ASSIST (American Scleroderma Stem Cell vs. Immune Suppression Trial), and 2) multiple sclerosis: MIST (Multiple Sclerosis Immune Suppression vs. Stem Cell Transplant). Dr. Burt has also performed the world’s first allogeneic adult stem cell transplants for rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis, and Crohn’s disease. Dr. Burt was recognized by Scientific American along with Al Gore and Steve Jobs as one of the top 50 people in the world for improving humanity due to his pioneering stem cell work. Dr. Burt’s stem cell trials are being conducted at Northwestern University, the University of Calgary (Canada), San Louis Hospital (Paris, France), Uppsala University (Stockholm, Sweden), the University of Sao Paolo (Ribeirao Preto, Brazil), and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals (Sheffield, England). In 2011, Science Illustrated recognized Dr. Burt’s stem cell work as one of the top 10 advances of the decade.