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Colonel David Burris, MD, FACS, DMCC, is a professor of surgery and the chair of the Norman M. Rich Department of Surgery at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.

Col. Dr. Burris graduated with a doctor of medicine degree from Uniformed Services University in 1982. After a surgical internship at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso Texas, he commanded the 19th Medical Detachment in Germersheim, Germany, which had both a TDA and TO&E mission from 1983-1985, and subsequently completed his surgical residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. In 1989, he returned to Germany as a staff surgeon at the 98th General Hospital in Nürnburg, where, as chief of general surgery, he oversaw the surgical expansion of the hospital to care for patients transferred from the Gulf during the Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. Col. Dr. Burris then finished a trauma/critical care fellowship from 1992 to 1994. He was deployed to Honduras in 1996, and he served with the 912th Forward Surgical Team in Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

His primary research interests are in support of the resuscitation of combat casualties, including hemoglobin-based blood substitutes, the immunology of resuscitation fluids, controlled resuscitation during uncontrolled hemorrhagic shock and hemostatic dressings. He continues in clinical practice, while training medical students, residents, and fellows in general surgery and surgical critical care. In addition, he teaches courses on war surgery for deploying medical units. He also serves as chief of Military Region XIII, of the American College of Surgeons Committee on Trauma, which includes oversight of more than 100 ATLS® courses for all three branches of the military throughout the world.

Col. Dr. Burris is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, American Surgical Association, American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, Society of University Surgeons, Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma, Society of Critical Care Medicine, Shock Society, Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, and the Christian Medical and Dental Associations.

His military awards include: Joint Meritorious Service, Army Meritorious Service with oak leaf cluster, Joint Achievement Medal, Army Achievement with oak leaf cluster, Army Commendation Medal, and Parachutists Badge.