Barbara Burtness, MD is Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) at the Yale School of
Medicine, Chief Translational Research Officer, and Associate Cancer Center Director for
Translational Research at the Yale Cancer Center.
She serves as Co-Leader of the Developmental Therapeutics Program, Division Chief for Head
and Neck/Sarcoma Oncology, and Director of the Yale Head and Neck Specialized Program of
Research Excellence.
Dr. Burtness is internationally recognized for her research in head and neck cancer.
She leads the ECOG-ACRIN Head and Neck Therapeutics Committee, which conducts large
multicenter trials in head and neck cancer, and chairs multicenter trials of targeted
therapy and immunotherapy in head and neck cancer. Some of her important studies are KEYNOTE
- 048, ECOG ACRIN 3311 etc.Her laboratory studies novel combinatorial therapies to target
p53 mutated head and neck cancer.
She is the chair of the ECOG-ACRIN Task Force for the Advancement of Women and has work on
Deiversity, Equity and Inclusion in Research