Dr Burmeister was born and raised in Cape Town, subsequently attending the University of Cape Town where he graduated with the MBChB degree in 1997. After completing his internship at Groote Schuur Hospital he spent time gaining surgical experience as a medical officer in the semi-rural areas of both the Eastern Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal. Returning to the University of Cape Town, he completed his surgical training, becoming a fellow of the College of Surgeons of South Africa in 2006. Dr Burmeister completed his sub-specialty training in Hepato-pancreatico-biliary (HPB) and upper Gastro-intestinal (GI) surgery in 2010, the same year he took up a full time senior consultant post in the surgical HPB unit at Groote Schuur Hospital where he currently still works, as well as at the University of Cape Town Private Academic Hospital’s Digestive Diseases Unit.
Dr Burmeister’s particular interests include the management of acute and chronic pancreatitis; pancreatic, hepatic and biliary malignancies; benign biliary disease; pancreatic cystic lesions; neuro-endocrine tumours and the role that endoscopy, specifically ERCP, cholangio- and pancreatoscopy and endoscopic ultrasound as well as other minimally invasive modalities can play in the management of these conditions. Dr Burmeister plays an active role in various multi-disciplinary tumour boards and has assisted in the establishment of endoscopic ultrasound at Groote Schuur and UCT Private Hospitals as well as more recently at Tygerberg Hospital. He is a senior lecturer and the convener of undergraduate education in the division of General Surgery as well as the year convener for the fifth year of the MBChB programme at the University of Cape Town. He is actively involved in post-graduate training at specialist and subspecialist level and has examined at both levels for the college of Medicine of South Africa as well as for the European Union of Medical Specialists. He is a member of the South African Gastroenterology Society and current President of the Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary Association of South Africa. He is a regular member of local and international faculty in various continuing medical educational activities and congresses relating to HPB diseases and is a member of the membership and educational committees of the European-African Hepato-Pancreatico-Biliary Association. He has been a member of Local Organising and Programme Committees for both local and international congresses, including that of the International Association of Pancreatology (IAP), for whom he has also acted as a reviewer for their journal Pancreatology.