Dr. Harris is a graduate of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where he obtained Bachelor of Science degrees (cum laude) in Biology, Mathematics and Psychology in 1978. He earned a Masters of Medical Sciences (summa cum laude) from Bowman Gray Medical School in 1980 and his Doctorate in Microbiology and Immunology (magna cum laude) from Bowman Gray Medical School in 1982. From 1982-1985 Dr. Harris was a Post-doctorate Fellow at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1985 he joined the faculty at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill as a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine. In 1989 Dr. Harris joined the faculty at the University of Arizona in Tucson as an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology. In 1996 Dr. Harris was promoted to Professor of Immunology. Dr. Harris established the first cord blood bank in the USA in 1992. He currently serves as the Executive Director of the University of Arizona Biorepository, Quality Director of the GMP Laboratory, is a member of the Arizona Cancer Center, a member of the Children’s Research Center, and a member of the Arizona Arthritis Center. Dr. Harris’s research interests include stem cells and regenerative medicine, cancer research/stem cell transplantation and gene therapy. Dr. Harris has founded 5 companies while at the University of Arizona; Cord Blood Registry, Inc.; ImmuneRegen BioSciences, Inc.; QuReGen, Inc., AdiCyte and Family Cryo Bank.
Banking of and research on stem cells and other tissues for discovery, regenerative medicine and cell therapy.