 A
Guyanese by birth, Professor Harris is currently Dean and
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs at Morehouse School
of Medicine in Atlanta, USA. He is internationally known for
his work as a Rheumatologist. With colleagues in London, he
helped to define a disorder which they called the Antiphospholipid
Syndrome and devised a diagnostic test (the anticardiolipin
test) for it. For this work, he shared with Dr. Graham Hughes
and Dr. Aziz Gharavi of Hammersmith Hospital, the Ceiba-Geigy
Prize.
Over One Hundred and Fifty papers, editorials, reviews and
chapters on this subject have been published by Professor
Harris. He joined the University of Louisville, Kentucky,
in 1987 and by 1993 became Professor of Medicine and Chief
of the Division of Rheumatology. There he launched the Antiphospholipid
Standardization Laboratory which leads worldwide efforts in
standardisation of the anticardiolipin test and distributing
these standards to over 500 laboratories worldwide. The laboratory
currently operates from the Morehouse School of Medicine and
continues to attract international fellows.
His academic achievements and personal qualities have earned
Professor Harris national leadership positions in organisations
such as the Association of American Medical Colleges, the
National Centre for Research Resources (NCCR) and the Association
of Academic Health Centres.
He has received many honours and awards, including the Centennial
Award for Contributions to Medicine of the National Medical
Association of America 1995.
Professor Harris graduated magna cum laude from Howard University,
with a degree in Chemistry and proceeded on a fellowship to
Yale University, where he received a Master of Philosophy
degree in Biochemistry. He earned his medical degree from
the University of Pennsylvania, completing this within three
years and again graduating with honours.
He then returned to the Caribbean where he completed his
residency in internal medicine at the University of the West
Indies at Mona and was awarded the post-graduate degree Doctor
of Medicine (DM).
In 1996 Professor Harris was appointed Dean and Senior Vice
President for Academic Affairs at Morehouse School of Medicine
where he proved to be an outstanding administrator, well liked
by both faculty and students and particularly sensitive to
student needs. Since his appointment as Dean, publications
by the academic staff quadrupled, citations increased nine-fold
and research funding doubled.
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