Randall Burt, MD, is senior director of Prevention and Outreach at Huntsman Cancer Institute. He is also a professor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Gastroenterology, at the University of Utah School of Medicine. He holds the D. Keith Barnes, MD, and Ida May "Dotty" Barnes, RN, Presidential Endowed Chair in Medicine. In addition, he is director of the Familial Colon Cancer Clinic and co-director of the Family Cancer Assessment Clinic at Huntsman Cancer Institute. He is a member of the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Program and co-leader of the Gastrointestinal Cancers Program.

Past studies by Burt and members of his group have shown that inheritance is a critical determinant in colon cancer, possibly playing a role in up to half of all cases. In 1987, a group led by Burt and Ray White, PhD, discovered the chromosomal location of the gene for a dangerous inherited colon cancer syndrome called familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). Soon after, the sequence of the gene and mutations responsible for the syndrome were identified. An important outcome of this research is that genetic testing is now available to identify persons with the inherited syndrome. These tests may soon become available for detecting common colon cancer. Currently, Burt looks for new gene mutations that cause predisposition to common colon cancers. As part of a large, randomized, controlled study, he researched the impact of diet on the occurrence of colon cancer.

Burt received his medical degree from the University of Utah in 1974. He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Washington University and Barnes Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and completed a fellowship in gastroenterology at the University of Utah School of Medicine in 1979.