Dr Frances Burns is the lead for the Northern Ireland Trusted Research Environment (NITRE), part of the HSC data institute. She is co-founder and director of the Northern Ireland Public Data Panel (NIPDP), a cross sectional infrastructure for public dialogue on Northern Ireland.
She is a member of the Understanding Patient Data steering group . She developed the Northern Ireland Cohort for the Longitudinal study of Aging, Northern Irelands largest public health research project.
She is an honorary lecturer in Queens University Belfast Centre for Public Health from where she gained her PhD in research and impact pathways