Mr Burge was a Registrar in Plastic Surgery in Edinburgh (St John’s Hospital, Livingston and the Royal Hospital for Sick Children) and a Senior Registrar in Plastic Surgery at Queen Mary’s University Hospital, Roehampton, London, UK. He passed the Intercollegiate Fellowship examination in Plastic Surgery (FRCS (Plast)) in 1996.

He was then fortunate enough to travel in the USA. He worked at the US Army’s world famous Burns Unit at Brooke Army Medical Centre and with the US Air Force at Wilford Hall Hospital; both in San Antonio, Texas. He was able to visit the Cosmetic Surgery Center in San Antonio, the Shriners Paediatric Burn Centre in Galveston, the Kleinert Hand Institute in Louisville and , Dr Ralph Millard, in Miami.