Dr. Burnett joined Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery Associates in June 2019, after practicing at Advent Health, Florida Hospital in Orlando for the preceding five years.

Raised in Northern Virginia, Dr. Burnett attended East Carolina University (ECU) on a football scholarship, graduating in 1977. During graduate school, he worked in a leading immunology and transplant laboratory, where he developed a strong interest in transplantation. Dr. Burnett subsequently entered East Carolina University, Brody School of Medicine, graduating in 1984, before beginning a five-year general surgery residency at the University of South Florida. He then completed a one-year fellowship in cardiac transplantation and mechanical assist devices at the Texas Heart Institute before completing a two-year cardiothoracic surgery residency there under the renowned Dr. Denton A. Cooley.

After completing his training, Dr. Burnett returned to his alma mater, ECU, to begin the Cardiac Transplantation Program at ECU School of Medicine. He subsequently entered private practice in Savannah, Georgia, and then practiced in Kansas City prior to moving to Orlando.