Lonnie S. Burnett, M.D., served as a pilot in the United States Naval Air Corps during World War II. He received his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas, Austin, in 1948 and his M.D. at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, in 1953. From 1955 to 1957, Dr. Burnett served as a United States Air Force Flight Surgeon at the Gunter Air Force Base School of Aviation Medicine in Alabama. He established the first Obstetrics and Gynecology clinic at the base.

Burnett served as Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He joined the Vanderbilt staff in 1976, serving as professor and chairman of Obstetrics and Gynecology until 1995. In 1993, the Vanderbilt Obstetrics and Gynecology Society was renamed the Lonnie S. Burnett Vanderbilt Obstetrics and Gynecology Society in his honor.