Rising fourth-year medical student Colin Burnett, MSc, was inspired to pursue a medical career by his large family, many of whom have been diagnosed with cancer or have worked in health care.
“My mother is a nurse and she comes from a very large extended family. She’s one of 12,” Burnett said. “There were a number of different occurrences of cancer in both of my grandparents and my mother and her siblings, which invigorated me to look into medicine.”
After studying biopsychology and drama at Tufts University, Burnett worked for four years as a clinical trials protocol specialist at ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group and a senior clinical research manager at GlaxoSmithKline. Born and raised in Marshfield, he stayed close to home and earned a master’s in epidemiology from Boston University School of Public Health before moving to Worcester to attend the T.H. Chan School of Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School.
“There’s a lot of focus on individuality and identity formation here that I didn’t see in other schools,” Burnett said.
Burnett presented LGBTQI+ cancer survivor research at the American Association for Cancer Research Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, focusing on data from queer and sexual or gender minority patients living with cancer and characterizing their experiences throughout the health care process.
“Regardless of if you go into something targeting sexuality or gender minorities, it behooves us to learn how to treat these patients more intentionally and make sure we’re thinking about that as we take them into our clinics, our operating rooms and any facets of our care,” Burnett said.
Burnett has served as a peer mentor and advocated for student needs as former co-president of the Student Body Committee. He was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society in June.
Burnett finds a valuable link between his two passions: theater and health care.
“In theater, I’d do a lot of background work—stage management was one of my favorite parts. It’s similar to medicine,” said Burnett. “You’re coordinating different people and organizing processes to make sure the production is on its feet and running the best it can.”
The Student Spotlight series features UMass Chan Medical School students in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing and T.H. Chan School of Medicine. For more information about UMass Chan Medical School and how to apply, visit the Prospective Students page.
