Lisa E. Harris, M.D., Eskenazi Health’s chief executive officer, has shown a continuing commitment to the students of IU Richard M Fairbanks School of Public Health at IUPUI. Over the years, Eskenazi Health has, in various capacities, been a solid partner with the school and a place of training and opportunity for students in the school’s health policy and management department.
Eskenazi Health CEO, Dr. Lisa Harris, Gives Graduation Keynote
Dedicating her career to improving health care for vulnerable and underserved populations, Dr. Harris has practiced medicine for 30 years at nationally recognized Eskenazi Health, one of America’s essential health care systems. Today, she leads Eskenazi Health while remaining actively engaged in patient care, research, teaching and the local community as a whole – including the IUPUI community. During this year’s commencement for the Fairbanks School of Public Health, Dr. Harris presented the keynote address.
Long before national health care reform took shape in America, Dr. Harris concentrated Eskenazi Health’s resources on prevention, health promotion and primary care, asserting that the greatest opportunity to improve the health and vitality of a community is to keep people well in the first place. She is intensely focused on improving access to patient-centered, comprehensive, community-based primary and mental health care, health promotion and effective chronic disease management – causes that are equally important to the health policy and management field.
Dr. Harris also serves as associate dean and professor of medicine for the IU School of Medicine. She is a John F. Williams, Jr., M.D. Scholar, and an active leader in the local community, serving as a board member for America’s Essential Hospitals, Regenstrief Institute, American Red Cross of Indiana and more. Dr. Harris’ relationship with the school allows students at the Fairbanks School of Public Health and IUPUI to see first-hand the impact health organizations can have when partnering with the local community, as well as where a career in health care can lead.