Dr. Buerk is a native of Oxford, Ohio. As the son of an ophthalmologist, he became interested in ophthalmology at a young age. He left the midwest to attend college at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. He attended medical school at The Ohio State University before moving to Chicago, Illinois for his ophthalmology residency and vitreo-retinal fellowship at the Illinois Eye and Ear infirmary. Upon completion of his training, Dr Buerk and his wife Radha Reddy, a Dayton native, returned to southwest Ohio where he joined Retina Physicians & Surgeons in 2004.