Burke's early research at the Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital and the Department of Physical Chemistry at the California Institute of Technology, was focused on the use of metals in surgery, and his team's pioneering research was published in 1940 under "''The Corrosion of Metals in Tissues; an Introduction to Tantalum''"<ref name="CMAJ">{{cite journal |date=Aug 1940 |title=The Corrosion of Metals in Tissues; an Introduction to Tantalum |journal=Canadian Medical Association Journal |pmid=20321780 |last1=Burke |first1=G. L. |volume=43 |issue=2 |pages=125–128 |pmc=538079 }}</ref> In "The Corrosion of Metals in Tissues", Burke's team at CalTech with John Norton Wilson, PhD, Dr.David Stevenson, and Emil Burcik (all of the Dept of Physical Chemistry) was the first to providesmake a detailed analysis of the various metals attempted in surgical repairs, and describesdescribing the chemistry of the success and failure of previous experiments. Their work was following on from the earlier analysis of Walter G. Stuck <ref>{{cite journal|journal=Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery |date= 1937 |title=THE EFFECTS ON BONE OF THE PRESENCE OF METALS|publisher=Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery |PMID: 17856999 PMCID: PMC1390475 DOI: 10.1097/00000658-193706000-00006 |last1=Stuck |first1=W.G. | }}</ref> which described the perils of the electrolytic destruction of tissues resulting from metallic implants. Other than routine industrial accidents, someBurke's ofteam hiswas otherfocused on majorrelated surgical specializations weresuch as polio reconstruction, and repair of military battle damage to avoid amputation with its concomitant challenging consequences. Burke described histhe team's first knownsuccessful use of tantalum in femoral and intertrochanteric fractures, for arthroplasty joint replacement, for clean non-scarring sutures, and for repair of trauma damage resulting from industrial or war-time battle injuries, and, eventually, for dental and jaw surgery prior to developing cosmetic fittings for dental implants. Burke's team was the first anywhere to conduct a chemical/metallurgical analysis of chemically/biologicallyscarce inertand expensive metals like tantalum and titanium,andfor histhe engineeringfeasibility of engineering implants in living tissue. His team also developed the manufacturing processes,<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Canadian Medical Association Journal |date=Aug 1940 |title=The Corrosion of Metals in Tissues; an Introduction to Tantalum |publisher=Canadian Medical Association |page=128|pmid=20321780 |last1=Burke |first1=G. L. |volume=43 |issue=2 |pmc=538079 }}</ref> led to the now widely accepted use of these metals in orthopaedic surgery and dentistry. Burke showed that both metals were strong enough and sufficiently stable for human implants in spite of the early difficulty in refining and fabrication.
Burke's subsequent work in the field of chronic joint pain was first mentioned in ''Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery'' in 1951.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=The Bone & Joint Journal |url=https://boneandjoint.org.uk/Article/10.1302/0301-620X.33B4.562 |title=On Congenital Dislocation of the Hip |last=Burke |first=Gerald |date=1 November 1951 |volume=33-B |issue=4 |pages=562–566 |doi=10.1302/0301-620X.33B4.562 |pmid=14880575 |access-date=31 October 2024 |quote=}}</ref> Burke later wrote and published in 1958 ''Backache from Occiput to Coccyx''<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.macdonaldpublishing.com/ |title="Backache from Occiput to Coccyx"| publisher=Macdonald Publishing Co | date=1958}}</ref> explaining the baffling and challenging issue of chronic back pain, and new innovative and simplified surgical procedures. This work was reviewed in "The Simple Problem of Backache", ''Bulletin of the Vancouver Medical Association'', March 1958.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Problem of Backache| journal=Bulletin of the Vancouver Medical Association | date=March 1958}}</ref>
