Speaker's Profile

Dr. Harris is a board-certified adult Psychiatrist with a Master’s in Public Health and over 25 years of practice as an outpatient psychiatrist in primary care, home care and office—based settings.  Dr. Harris started his career in integrated primary care and home care practices at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston and was an early adopter of technology in clinical practice.  He has been active in organized medicine since residency and has served on many committees, advocating for parity of mental health and substance use coverage under commercial health insurance.  He has given expert testimony to state and federal regulators and legislators.  Dr. Harris currently serves the Massachusetts Medical Society as Chair of the Committee on Interspecialty and Member of the Committee on Quality of Medical Practice.  He is a Past President of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society.  He is also a Representative to the American Medical Association’s Relative Value Update Committee and past Chair of the American Psychiatric Association's Committee on RBRVS, Coding and Reimbursement.  He teaches a public health course on health policy to fourth year Harvard Beth Israel Deaconess Psychiatry residents.  In 2016, Dr. Harris transitioned from full-time clinical practice to full-time employment as a Medical Director at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

Dr. Harris continues to see psychiatry patients in a part-time clinical practice and is currently the Senior Medical Director for Mental Health at BCBSMA.