Eva Harris is a biologist who has brought modern molecular biology methods in DNA diagnostics to bear on the problems of diagnosis and treatment of diseases in Central and South America.

Harris is directly influencing the quality and quantity of modern medical technology skills in several developing countries by providing on-site training in molecular technology for the effective prevention and control of infectious diseases.  As a direct result of her work, scientists in Nicaragua and Ecuador are beginning to use DNA diagnostic technologies to identify the infectious strains that cause outbreaks of protozoan (leishmaniasis) or bacillar (tuberculosis) disease.  Harris has helped to integrate the latest techniques into the public health systems of these countries.  She has also established the nonprofit foundation, Global Science Collaborative, as a vehicle for appropriate, technology transfer and collaborations at an international level.

Harris is an associate professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the School of Public Health of the University of California, Berkeley, and president of the Sustainable Sciences Institute, San Francisco.  She is the author of A Low-Cost Approach to PCR: Appropriate Transfer of Biomolecular Techniques (1998).

Harris received a B.A. (1987) from Harvard University and a Ph.D. (1993) from the University of California, Berkeley.

Last updated January 1, 2005