Elizabeth Burner, MD, MPH, PhD

Director, Mentored Career Development in Clinical and Translational Science (MCD-CTS/KL2) Training Program

SC CTSI Role

Contact Information

eburner@usc.edu
323-409-6667

Professional Background

Dr. Burner is an Associate Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine, Director of the SC CTSI Mentored Career Development/KL2 Program and Research Director for the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Dr. Burner joined the faculty at the Keck School in 2013 and has worked clinically in the emergency department at the Los Angeles General Medical Center (formerly LAC+USC), the Jail Urgent Care based in the LA County Twin Towers Correctional Facility, and USC Verdugo Hills Hospital.

In her program of research, Dr. Burner investigates how emergent health communication tools can be used to reach the highest need patient groups, as well as addressing substance use disorders out of the emergency department and directing patients with chronic disease to patient-centered medical homes for improved health behavior choices. She conducts mixed methods research to better understand the viewpoints of high need populations populations, particularly the patient population served by the Emergency Department at Los Angeles General Medical Center. She has received several NIH, institutional, and local grants. Her background is in effectiveness, health services, and implementation research, examining technology-based strategies to improve self-care of chronic diseases in emergency department populations. She also utilizes mixed methods approaches to analyze interventions and improve implementation in clinical settings. Her work aligns directly with the SC CTSI's focus on developing scientists who create real-world impact through stakeholder engagement.

A former KL2 awardee from 2013 to 2016 and K23 recipient, Dr. Burner joined the MCD-CTS/KL2 program as a faculty instructor in 2020 and became KL2 Program Director in 2024. She has been the lead instructor in the core coursework for the Masters of Science in Clinical and Translational Research and course director for Introduction to Clinical and Translational Research: Study Design. In her MCD Director role, she oversees educational programming, regulatory compliance, cross-core collaborations, and institutional training partnerships, while leading efforts to disseminate SC CTSI training innovations institution-wide and beyond. Dr. Burner brings extensive experience in training and mentoring clinician-scientists locally and nationally. She has mentored more than sixty students, postdoctoral scholars, fellows, and early-stage faculty members. She is currently director of the annual Emergency Medicine Foundation-Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Foundation Grantee Workshop, a key career development program for emergency care researchers, and a Director at Large for the Association of Clinical and Translational Science.

Interests

Pilates, long walks with her family and mystery novels