Rate My Professor Irina Burd

Irina Burd, MD, PhD, serves as the Sylvan Frieman, MD Endowed Professor and Chair of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences in the Medicine faculty at the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She received a BA in Biology from Rutgers University in 1995 (summa cum laude) and an MD/PhD from Rutgers-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in 2003. Following residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in 2007 and fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in 2010, she joined Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 2011, rising to Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Neurology, and Population, Family and Reproductive Health by 2022. There, she founded the Integrated Research Center for Fetal Medicine and directed research in Maternal Fetal Medicine.

Her research specializes in immuno-perinatology and perinatal brain injury, investigating how intrauterine inflammation and infections like Zika virus affect fetal programming, preterm birth, and neurological outcomes. Notable publications include "Intrauterine Zika virus infection of pregnant immunocompetent mice models transplacental transmission and adverse perinatal outcomes" (Nature Communications, 2017) and "The fetal origins of mental illness" (American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 2019). With over 120 peer-reviewed articles and more than $20 million in NIH and foundation funding, her work has advanced understanding of placental inflammation mechanisms and therapeutic targets such as IL-1 receptor blockade. Dr. Burd has earned accolades including election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (2023), SRI President’s Achievement Award (2021), and leadership roles as President of the Society for Reproductive Investigation (2025-), American Society for Reproductive Immunology, and Perinatal Research Society. She contributes to editorial boards, NIH study sections, and fellowship programs.