Dr. Bryan Burt

Get to Know Dr. Bryan Burt

Dr. Bryan Burt received his medical degree from Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York. While training under mesothelioma pioneer Dr. David Sugarbaker, he completed residencies in general surgery and thoracic surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

As professor and chief of the division of thoracic surgery at UCLA, Burt focuses on developing innovative mesothelioma surgical treatments that result in a shorter recovery time. He is board certified by the American Board of Surgery and the American Board of Thoracic Surgery.

Burt offers two primary surgeries for pleural mesothelioma: extrapleural pneumonectomy and pleurectomy and decortication. EPP, a technique Sugarbaker developed, is an aggressive mesothelioma surgery that removes an entire lung and several other chest structures affected by cancer.

The pleurectomy and decortication procedure allows patients to keep their lungs intact. This surgery involves removing the lungs’ protective lining and any chest structures where cancer has spread. The surgeon then extracts any visible tumor mass from the chest.

Burt uses the latest surgical technology and is a skilled robotic surgeon. He also leads a research laboratory funded by the National Institutes of Health and has completed several investigator-initiated clinical trials of novel immunotherapeutic strategies for patients with thoracic malignancies.

Specialties of Dr. Bryan Burt

• Lung cancer
• Pleural mesothelioma
• Esophageal cancer
• Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery
• Immunotherapy
• Research

Dr. Bryan Burt’s Experience and Medical Education

• UCLA Health
• Baylor College of Medicine
• Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School (Residency and fellowship)
• Weill Medical College of Cornell University (M.D.)
• American College of Surgeons (Fellow)

Awards and Certifications

• 2022 Bud Frazier Innovation Award, Baylor College of Medicine
• 2021Distinguished Scientist Award, Baylor St. Luke’s Medical Center
• A top doctor in Houston with the Top Doctor’s Award in 2021 and 2022
• Board certified in thoracic and general surgery
• Feature editor, The Journal of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery
• Norton Rose Fulbright Faculty Excellence Award for Enduring Education, Baylor College of Medicine
• Early Career Faculty Award for Excellence in Patient Care, Baylor College of Medicine
• Peter Bent Brigham Scholar Award, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
• Clarence Coryell Prize in Surgery, Weill Medical College
• William C. Thro Memorial Prize in Pathophysiology, Weill Medical College
• Dr. Harold Lamport Biomedical Research Prize, Weill Medical College

Mesothelioma Clinical Trials Under Bryan M. Baylor, M.D.

• MEDI4736 Or MEDI4736 + Tremelimumab In Surgically Resectable Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma.
• MTG201 Plus Nivolumab in Patients With Relapsed Pleural Mesothelioma
• Study of Cytoreductive Surgery and Hyperthermic Intraoperative Chemotherapy With Pemetrexed and Cisplatin for Malignant Pleural Mesotheliomas

Publications of Dr. Bryan M. Burt

• Burt, B.M. et al. (2026, April). The Society of Thoracic Surgeons 2026 Expert Consensus on the Multimodal Treatment of Pleural Mesothelioma. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
• Burt, B.M. et al. (2025, April). Soluble mesothelin-related peptide as a prognosticator in pleural mesothelioma patients receiving checkpoint immunotherapy. The Journal of Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery.
• Burt, B.M. et al. (2025, May). The influence of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery on clinical trial development by cardiothoracic surgeons. The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
• Burt, B.M. et al. (2024, February). Clonal gene signatures predict prognosis in mesothelioma and lung adenocarcinoma. NPJ Precision Oncology.
• Burt, B.M. et al. (2023, February). A Phase II Window of Opportunity Study of Neoadjuvant PD-L1 versus PD-L1 plus CTLA-4 Blockade for Patients with Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma. Clinical Cancer Research.
• Burt, B.M. et al. (2023, May). Pleurectomy and decortication are associated with better survival for bicavitary cytoreductive surgery for mesothelioma compared with extrapleural pneumonectomy. The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
• Burt, B.M. et al. (2022, December). Activation of Adaptive and Innate Immune Cells via Localized IL2 Cytokine Factories Eradicates Mesothelioma Tumors. Clinical Cancer Research.
• Burt, B.M. et al. (2022, November). Inhibition of Cyclin Dependent Kinase 4/6 Overcomes Primary Resistance to Programmed Cell Death 1 Blockade in Malignant Mesothelioma. The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.
• Burt, B.M. (2020, November 1). Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma. Thoracic Surgery Clinics.
• Olive, J.K. & Burt, B.M. (2020, September 15). Commentary: Preventative indications for major resection. JTCVS Techniques.
• Burt, B.M. et al. (2020, June). Preoperative prediction of unresectability in malignant pleural mesothelioma. The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.
• Groth, S.S. & Burt, B.M. (2019, December). Percentage of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes after chemoradiation therapy for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a biomarker for pathological response rates and cancer-specific survival? Annals of Translational Medicine.