Dr. Odette Harris profiled by Diversity in Action Magazine
January 2022 - By Amy Meadows
This article was originally published in Diversity in Action Magazine
Neurosurgery is known as one of the most challenging and competitive medical specialties in the health care field. Success in the complex discipline requires not only an extensive and rigorous education and years of strenuous training, but also an outstanding amount of tenacity, dedication and talent. For many of those pursuing their place in the neurosurgery field, though, there are additional undeniable headwinds, as a lack of diversity remains an obstacle in the area.
According to a study published in the journal Neurosurgery, out of 5,645 active neurosurgeons in the United States in 2018, only 3.8% were Black, while neurosurgery training programs that year only had 78 Black trainees out of more than 1,400 total individuals. What’s more, in its 100-year history, The Society of Neurological Surgeons has welcomed only four Black members.
It’s a stunning revelation. Yet, individuals who are truly committed to making a difference in the lives of patients dealing with neurological issues have continued to forge ahead against all odds.
Odette Harris, MD, MPH, made a bold move when she knocked on the office door of renowned neurobiologist Eric Shooter and asked if she could work in his lab. At the time, she was a medical student at Stanford University, where Shooter was the founding chair of the Department of Neurobiology. Her undergraduate work at Dartmouth College, as well as work with renowned neurosurgeons John Adler, MD, and Lawrence Shuer, MD, had significantly piqued her interest. Then a neuroscience class at Stanford with Shooter sealed the deal, and Harris decided to approach the famed professor emeritus.
“He was gracious enough not to throw me out on my heels,” she muses. “Then I got into his lab and it all just came together. I think people think you plan these things. But I think it’s that opportunity comes to those who are prepared. I was taking the right classes, and the opportunities came together in a serendipitous fashion.”
A native of Jamaica, Harris moved to the United States in grade school. She excelled in science and math, which naturally led to conversations about her future in the field of medicine. She completed her undergraduate degree in biology at Dartmouth and went on to earn a master’s degree in Public Health Epidemiology from UC Berkeley before moving on to Stanford for medical school. She initially saw her path leading to work in genetics or pediatrics, but she ultimately found her home in neuroscience, in which she has found creative ways to blend her clinical and research backgrounds with her experience in epidemiology to address everything from treating all of the stages of traumatic brain injury to delivering neurosurgical services to patients in the developing world and underserved communities.
For instance, Harris received the William P. Van Wagenen Fellowship Award in 2003, which allowed her to study trauma systems and neurosurgery in Caribbean nations. In 2009, after accepting her first faculty position at Emory University in Atlanta, she was named director of the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center. In 2018, Harris, who at the time was an associate professor at her alma mater, Stanford University, was promoted to full professor and became the second Black female neurosurgery professor in the country, as well as the first at Stanford.
“It was a bit baffling for me in 2018 when I became a full professor that it was news. It focused on my race as opposed to what it took for me to become a professor,” Harris reveals. “I think it’s important to focus on what people have to achieve to be in the roles that they’re in. Being a professor at Stanford is a journey, and there have only been two other women in the whole of the neurosciences that have received that distinction — and none of them were Black. So it’s an arduous journey.”
For Harris, creating change also means priming the pipeline for future generations in the field. That’s why she spends a great deal of time focusing on outreach and mentoring through a host of organizations. She also responds to every email that she receives from young people asking for her advice or encouragement. “I am humbled quite honestly, and that’s why I take time to respond to each kid. It’s humbling to feel like you can add value to someone’s path,” she states. It’s also a chance to make an impact beyond the incredible research she does today.
“My hope is that I get to keep doing what I’m doing and have the opportunity to influence others in a positive way. And I hope to have an impact on the next generation [of neuroscientists] that, hopefully, will look a lot more like our country at large. My colleagues and I look at this as very valuable work, and we’re doing our part to shape the future of what the neurosciences look like.”