‘Multisystem organ failure enthusiast’ credits Purdue Health Sciences courses as launching point to medical career

Dr. Christina Burke was a top Purdue University student during her graduation year in 2014, left. Today, she is an intensivist in the Chicago area. (photos provided)

Written by: Tim Brouk, tbrouk@purdue.edu

As part of the Purdue UniversityCollege of Health and Human Science’s (HHS) 15^th anniversary year, we are catching up with alumni who received Outstanding Senior awards when they were undergraduates.

In a family of mostly engineers, Dr. Christina Burke (BS ’14) was the black — and gold — sheep.

From her parents, aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins, generations of the Burke and Schafer families flooded Purdue University for their education and training in engineering and similar degrees. Burke went against the grain with a passion for pre-med.

“There’s over 50 degrees in our family from Purdue, and I have cousins there now. It’s ridiculous. But we love it,” said Burke from her home in Woodridge, Illinois.

Burke found her fit in the Purdue School of Health Sciences in prerequisite classes, student organizations, research and hands-on training. This experience propelled her through medical school and now into her practice as an intensivist in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

While family medicine was her goal as a Boilermaker, she switched her focus early on to the faster-paced realm of intensive care units. Burke has been managing forms of life support and performing other life-saving procedures since 2018, but she still credits her time in Purdue HHS as a key launching point for her medical career.

What is an intensivist?

An intensivist is a physician who focuses on critical care medicine and takes care of patients only in the intensive care setting. Other specialties, such as pulmonary-critical care, allow you to take care of patients in outpatient, inpatient and ICU settings. I knew I wanted to focus only on patients who were hospitalized, and it helped me to narrow my focus to apply for fellowships and then jobs were my practice is ICU-based. I do shifts in the ICU like an emergency room physician would in the emergency department.

Why did you switch from family medicine?

I went into medicine thinking I was going follow in my Aunt Kathie Burke’s footsteps. She went to Purdue, where she got her nursing degree, and then went back to school (at Midwestern University) to become a physician, eventually specializing in family and geriatric medicine. When I got to my family medicine rotation, I realized it was not my favorite. Later, I did more inpatient and then critical care rotations, and I just fell in love with the ICU. I considered other specialties like cardiology, but then — it sounds goofy to say — I missed the other organ systems and wanted to manage the whole patient. And so, one of the podcasts I listened to, I think one of the docs said that he’s a “multisystem organ failure enthusiast,” when describing his job as an intensivist, and I was like, “Oh, that’s me.”

What is the intensivist experience like?

It keeps you on your toes; no day is the same. It can be very busy and hands-on with procedures. Everything is higher acuity. In outpatient medicine, you are managing a lot of chronic conditions and don’t always see results from your interventions right away. In the ICU, I’m ordering a lab, getting results quickly and getting to do something about it immediately like, “OK, I did this, and it helped or didn’t, and so we do this instead.” I like that kind of problem solving. I can do something right away and see the effect that it has in hopefully stabilizing the patient’s condition.

What are your favorite Purdue memories?

What set apart my (medical school) applications were the opportunities I had at Purdue and my leadership experiences.

In Health Sciences, I was involved in the student council and served as president as an upperclassman. I joined the Purdue Foundation Student Board (PFSB) my sophomore year, and I remained involved through my senior year. I loved getting to support the President’s Council events with PFSB. I remember early Saturday mornings setting up pre-game breakfasts for football games. I was thrilled to be selected for (Purdue) Mortar Board my senior year. I was also in a sorority (Kappa Alpha Theta) and have very fond memories of my time in the house. I credit my advisor Rosie (Ricci) for her guidance and encouragement in what sort of organizations to get involved with while I was there.  

My sophomore year I also joined Global Health Brigades and was able to participate in two medical mission trips to Honduras. After returning from those, classmates and I founded a Global Water Brigades chapter at Purdue, which aims to help create water infrastructure in the towns where we were helping provide medical assistance. It’s a very cool organization that addresses different aspects of what the community needs — education, water, dental, medical.

And I can’t forget to highlight my memories of sitting in the Paint Crew and cheering on the Boilermakers, especially when ESPN College GameDay came to Mackey (Arena).

What advice do you have for an incoming student interested in pre-med?

I would say to take every opportunity you can to get involved. Find something you’re passionate about, and that doesn’t necessarily have to be related to medicine. The skills you gain from joining a club or taking on a leadership role will carry you forward in any career. Anyone can take pre-med classes, regardless of major, and it is the opportunities you take advantage of outside of the classroom that make the difference in your undergrad experience and can set you apart on your applications. Do not be afraid to get out of your comfort zone and try something new.