born in chicago and raised in washington, d.c., burr graduated from principia college in elsah, illinois. he began his journalism career in 1987 as a stringer in "the christian science monitor's" southeast asia bureau, and later became a contributing editor to "u.s. news & world report". burr has also written for "the atlantic" on epidemiology and public health. burr earned a master's degree in international economics and japan studies from the paul h. nitze school of advanced international studies (sais) at johns hopkins.