Biography

“Dr. Harris is currently Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of Vesalius Ventures, Inc., a venture capital firm, that invest in early to mid stage Healthcare technologies and companies.

Prior to Vesalius Ventures, Dr. Harris was at NASA for ten years, where he conducted research in musculoskeletal physiology and disuse osteoporosis. Later, as Head of the Exercise Countermeasure Project, he conducted clinical investigations of space adaptation and developed inflight medical devices to extend Astronaut stays in space, which involved the use of telemetry. A veteran astronaut for over eighteen years, he has logged more than 438 hours and traveled over 7.2 million miles in space. On his second flight, Dr. Harris conducted the first telemedicine conference from space with the Mayo Clinic and became the “First African American to walk in Space”.

Dr. Harris served as Vice President and Chief Scientist of SPACEHAB, Inc., an innovative space commercialization company where he directed the company’s space science business. There he was involved in business development and marketing of the company’s space-based products and services. Dr. Harris’ focus was the enhancement of medical devices for use in remote environments. Later, he served as Vice President of Business Development for Space Media, Inc., an Informatics company, establishing an e-commerce initiative

Currently, he is on the Board for the Houston Angel Network, Medical Informatics, Technology and Applications Center, Houston Technology Center, BioHouston, the National Math and Science Initiative and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, Board of Scientific Counselors. In addition, he was a Senior Consultant for NASA Aerospace Safety Panel, Member of the NASA Biological and Physical Sciences Committee, Council for the NIH National Institute for Deafness and Communications Disorders and committee for the National Academies Institute of Medicine.

He holds several faculty appointments including, Associate Professor in Internal Medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch and Assistant Professor at Baylor College of Medicine. Additionally, he is the author and co-author of numerous scientific publications. Dr. Harris is also the founder and president of the Harris Foundation, which supports math and science education and crime prevention programs for America’s youth.

Dr. Harris earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Houston, a Master of Medical Science from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Houston and a Doctorate of Medicine from Texas Tech University School of Medicine. He completed a Residency in Internal Medicine at the Mayo Clinic, a National Research Council Fellowship in Endocrinology at the NASA Ames Research Center and trained as a Flight Surgeon at the Aerospace School of Medicine, Brooks Air Force Base. He is also a licensed private pilot and certified scuba diver.

He is a member of the Board of Directors for RMD Networks, U.S. Physical Therapy (Nasdaq: USPH), Sterling Bancshares (Nasdaq: SBIB), The Endowment Fund, Monebo Technologies and the Space Agency.

He is the recipient of numerous awards, including honorary doctorates from Stony Brook University (SUNY), Morehouse School of Medicine, New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) and University of Hartford, NASA Space Flight Medal, NASA Award of Merit, a fellow of the American College of Physicians, and was the recipient of the 2000 Horatio Alger Award.”