Lisa Harris is the F. Wallace and Janet Jeffries Collegiate Professor of Reproductive Health, and Professor and Associate Chair in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Michigan (UM). She is also a Professor in the Department of Women’s Studies. Because so many issues in reproductive health have to do as much with culture, ethics and politics as with biomedical sciences, after college and medical school at Harvard University Dr. Harris earned a PhD in American Culture at UM, focusing on reproductive ethics. She continued her work in bioethics as a Greenwall Faculty Scholar. She is now an active clinician, teacher, researcher and leader.
Dr. Harris’s work explores exercise of conscience in healthcare, including conscientious provision of contested care; racial and social class stratification of infertility treatment in the U.S.; abortion stigma; and burnout and resilience among healthcare providers. Most recently she turned her attention to the impact of social polarization on reproductive health and healthcare, and on U.S. social fabric itself. As a leader Dr. Harris built a wide range of novel clinical, educational and research programs at University of Michigan, and as Associate Chair she leads her Department’s faculty development work, diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and resilience and burnout initiatives. She is the recipient of a range of awards for her interdisciplinary work and thought leadership, including the Association of Reproductive Health Professional’s Preserving Core Values in Science Award, and is a two-time recipient of the Society of Family Planning’s Outstanding Researcher Award.