Biography
Dedicating her career to improving health care for vulnerable and underserved populations, Lisa E. Harris, M.D., has practiced medicine for 30 years at nationally recognized Eskenazi Health. Today, Dr. Harris serves as Eskenazi Health’s chief executive officer, leading one of America’s essential health care systems that also serves as a vital training ground for the IU School of Medicine. In addition to her leadership role at Eskenazi Health, Dr. Harris remains actively engaged in patient care, research, and teaching.
Dr. Harris concentrates 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. Additionally, as past chair of America’s Essential Hospitals, Dr. Harris has nurtured the organization’s strong presence on Capitol Hill, advocating for our nation’s most vulnerable populations.
An active and engaged leader in the local community, Dr. Harris serves as president of the board of directors of the American Red Cross of Indiana, as well as on the boards of directors for the Regenstrief Institute, Julian Center, Second Helpings, Managed Emergency Surge for Healthcare (MESH), and the inaugural board of directors of the Patachou Foundation, focused on providing healthful food to homeless children. She also serves on the boards of United Way of Central Indiana and the Christian Theological Seminary and served as the 2015 chair of the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women initiative. She was appointed to the IUPUI Board of Advisors in 2021.
In 2009, Dr. Harris helped successfully lead a campaign seeking voter approval for a new Wishard Hospital campus. In 2011, the organization received a $40 million gift from Indianapolis couple Sidney and Lois Eskenazi, in honor of whom Health & Hospital Corporation of Marion County named the new hospital facilities. The Eskenazi Health campus opened in December 2013 and is among the first and largest hospital campuses in the United States and the first in Indiana to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification.