Richard Burney MD, Physician Consultant

Dr. Burney is Professor Emeritus of Surgery at Michigan Medicine. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. He received his post-graduate training in General Surgery at Yale-New Haven Medical Center, where his initial research was carried out as part of the Yale Trauma Program. He served on the Executive Committee on Clinical Affairs, was a member of the Patient Safety Committee, and has been long-standing member of the Clinical Care Review Committee (formerly Medical Liability Review). He was President of the Michigan Peer Review Organization, which oversees quality of care for Medicare and other insurers, from 1984 – 2002. He was a member of the state Board of Medicine, which oversees licensing of physicians, from 2008 to 2015, and served as its chairperson for 4 years. He was awarded emeritus status in 2019 and joined MSQC as a consultant the same year.

Dr. Burney is Professor Emeritus of Surgery at Michigan Medicine. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School. He received his post-graduate training in General Surgery at Yale-New Haven Medical Center, where his initial research was carried out as part of the Yale Trauma Program. He served as a Major in the US Army Medical Corps for two years before joining the faculty at University of Michigan in 1976. In addition to his clinical role as a general surgeon, Dr. Burney held major administrative responsibilities in the areas of trauma, emergency services, and critical care transport. He served as Chief of the Section of Emergency Services from 1985 through 1992 and as medical director of Survival Flight from 1985 through 1994.

During his career Dr. Burney’s chief clinical interests were in fields of abdominal and endocrine surgery, including gastrointestinal endoscopy. He had special interest and expertise in thyroid and parathyroid surgery, abdominal and inguinal hernia, and anorectal disease.

Dr. Burney has had a long-standing interest in medical care delivery and quality. He undertook some of the earliest research in surgical outcomes measurement using patient reported functional health status instruments and learning how to apply this information to improve the quality of patient care.