His memberships include The Optical Society of America (where he has been a fellow since 1993) and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology. Dr. Burns has served on the Visual Science C Study Section, and is a past editor of the Journal of the Optical Society of America, and a winner of the Optical Society of America’s Tillyer Medal. Research Dr. Burns’ main research interests are in color vision, with an emphasis on human cone function in health and disease. In recent years he has concentrated on optical measurements of cone waveguide properties and how they interact with the optical quality of the eye. He is currently using adaptive optics imaging to investigate the retina. He has received patents for work in wavefront sensing and in imaging.