Robert E. Burke MD PhD

At an early age, Robert E. Burke, MD, PhD knew that his life's purpose was to become a physician. He was born impoverished as the fourth of eight boys, in Courtdale, Pennsylvania. His tortuous path to achieving that quest is documented in his autobiography, Beyond The Quest To Become A Physician. As a general pediatrician he cared for thousands of children in his thirty-three-year career. A decade of practice was in a small rural town in Pennsylvania, whereas the rest was at a large academic medical center in Texas, where he also taught and served as Vice Chairman of Pediatrics. During retirement, he has used his understanding of child development to stimulate the young reader's imagination and curiosity, beginning with a children's picture book, Madison Meets Magical Morpho. Dr. Burke has traveled the world with his wife Bonnie, and now draws on that experience to write fiction travel adventures, Buddy the Globetrotter series, aimed for middle school children and older. They live in Temple, Texas, and have four adult children and eleven grandchildren. As a retired pediatrician, he finds it fascinating that he seems to be almost as well-known locally for his newspaper travel articles as for his care of children. Besides being an author, he pursues travel, photography, landscaping, hiking, and family-centered activities.