James Harris, MD, PhD
Future Plans: Medical Retina Fellowship at Duke University
Dr. James Harris graduated magna cum laude from Bowdoin College with a BA in Neuroscience with Honors. As an undergraduate he studied a natural form of neuronal regeneration in the cricket auditory system. He was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and received several awards including the Idea Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence Fellowship, the James Malcolm Moulton Prize in Biology, and the Support of Mentors and their Students in the Neurosciences Fellowship.
Dr. Harris went on to work at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Brigham and Women’s Hospital investigating the role of metabolic, genetic, and biophysical determinants of hematopoietic stem cell and liver development. He then enrolled in the Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s combined MD/PhD Program where he simultaneously earned his MD in the Health, Science, and Technology (HST) basic science track and his PhD in the Program in Neuroscience. His thesis work with Dr. Paola Arlotta focused on the mechanisms of molecular damage in neurons and the repair of neuronal circuits in Harvard University’s Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. He received fellowships for his research from the NIH-sponsored Medical Scientist Training Program, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
As a graduate student, he led a team of five teaching fellows while serving as Head Teaching Fellow of the Graduate/Medical Neuroscience course.
Dr. Harris completed a Transitional Year Internship at Newton Wellesley Hospital as part of Harvard Ophthalmology’s four-year integrated residency program. His work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals including Cell, Developmental Cell, Blood, Cell Stem Cell, and American Journal of Human Genetics. He has presented both nationally and internationally at conferences such as the Society for Neuroscience, the American Society of Hematology, and the Keystone Symposia Conference on Stem Cells and Cancer.