Zachary Burns, DO, MPH
Brown Family Medicine Residency
Zach Burns trains at the Brown Family Medicine Residency. A plant-based nutrition advocate, he practices medicine to help improve the lives of human and non-human beings. Zach founded the organization Plant-based Healthcare in medical school at Nova Southeastern University to engage classmates in vegucation and advocacy around plant-based eating patterns. His reach extends nationally via Moving Medicine Forward, a non-profit dedicated to cultivating a generation of nutritionally literate physicians who are prepared to tackle our chronic disease burden. He pursued similar work on the Development team with the American College of Lifestyle Medicine Trainees. Zach was grateful for Harleen’s support in establishing the Plant-based Health Liaison position for MS4SF to highlight the urgency in transitioning to a plant-based global food system both for climate change mitigation and to combat deforestation, antibiotic resistance, and zoonotic infectious disease. He considers the problem of 200 million land animals killed per day within the purview of physicians striving to “do no harm.” Zach supports universal healthcare as an adjunct to improved nutrition policy and in medical school helped launch a chapter of Students for a National Health Program. His dream career includes family medicine at a community health center with designated time to engage in various facets of the movement to eradicate factory farming. He swears he is more fun in person and enjoys soccer and jazz piano.
Medical Students for a Sustainable Future 