Expert Directory

Jan A. Burger, MD, PhD

Professor, Tenured, Department of Leukemia
Division of Cancer Medicine
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Houston, TX

Jan A. Burger, MD, PhD, is a professor of medicine at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. Dr Burger received his MD/PhD degrees at Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg in Germany, with subsequent clinical training and board certification in internal medicine and hematology/oncology at Freiburg University Hospital, before moving to MD Anderson in 2005. In 2006, he received the “Venia legendi” (Habilitation) for Internal Medicine at Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg. Moreover, from 1996 to 1999, Dr Burger received postdoctoral research training in hematology and immunology at the University of California, San Diego.

As a laboratory and clinical investigator, Dr Burger focuses on developing new therapeutic approaches for targeting the microenvironment in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, other B-cell malignancies, and acute leukemia. Laboratory research by Dr Burger’s group characterized B-cell chemokine receptors, such as CXCR4 and CXCR5, adhesion molecules, and B-cell receptor–associated kinases, such as SYK, BTK, and PI3 kinases, as therapeutic targets. He serves as a principal investigator on clinical trials that explore several of these targets in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. 

For his innovative research, Dr Burger has received several awards, including the Arthur Pappenheim Award by the DGHO, the Kimmel Scholar Award, the ASCO Young Investigator and Career Development awards, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar Award, and the MD Anderson Faculty Scholar Award. Dr Burger is a regular speaker at the European Hematology Association and the American Society of Hematology meetings, and he has published in the leading journals in his field.