Isaiah Washington as Dr. Preston Burke

Dr. Preston Xavier Burke is the highly regarded chief cardiothoracic surgeon at Seattle Grace Hospital who received the prominent Golden Hands award from the Washington State Board of Medical Standards. This award signifies his success in having the lowest patient mortality rate.

Hard-working and determined, Burke began his impressive medical career by graduating at the top of his class from Johns Hopkins Medical School. While at Seattle Grace, he was once considered the acting chief of Surgery when Dr. Weber was recuperating from a brain surgery. However, his career was put in the line when he began dating intern Dr. Cristina Yang. Their relationship did not start smoothly, but it was initiated with a small cup of coffee, followed by a make-out session in the on-call room. In their own personal time, Burke had no problem showing his affection for Cristina, but upon realizing that she had serious commitment issues, began to feel completely frustrated. When the truth about their relationship was exposed, Burke was forced to break up with Cristina, without knowing that she was already pregnant with his child. He only found out about the pregnancy when Cristina collapsed during surgery and it was revealed that she had suffered a miscarriage. From there, Burke and Cristina picked up where they left off, and has since then, remained totally devoted to each other.

Although their relationship is not perfect, they clearly have one of the strongest bonds among the couples in the hospital. Despite Cristina’s often cold and distant approach to any situation, Burke has been able to rely on her in his time of need, especially after a madman on a shooting rampage shot him. The surgery that Dr. Derek Shepherd performed on him left him with a tremor in his hand. Although it was only a slight tremor, Burke, being one of the best surgeons in the hospital, tried his very best to hide his condition and asked Cristina to help him keep his secret. Eventually, Cristina caved in to the pressure and confessed to the Chief, in Burke’s utter disappointment.

Nevertheless, Burke was able to recover, and realizing that Cristina is the truly the one for him, he proposed to her and their engagement was made official eight days later.

(Photo courtesy of ABC)