Dr. Nadine Burke Harris | |
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| 1stSurgeon General of California | |
| In office February 11, 2019 – February 11, 2022 | |
| Governor | Gavin Newsom |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Devika Bhushan (acting) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1975 (age 50–51) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Citizenship | United States Canada |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | |
| Education | University of California, Berkeley (BA) University of California, Davis (MD) Harvard University (MPH) Stanford University (Pediatrics) |
| Occupation | Pediatrician, mental health researcher |
| Website | drnadineburkeharris |
Nadine Burke Harris (born October 5, 1975) is a Canadian-Americanpediatrician who was theSurgeon General of California between 2019 and 2022; she is the first person appointed to that position.[1][2] She is known for linkingadverse childhood experiences andtoxic stress with harmful effects to health later in life.[3] Hailed as a pioneer in the treatment of toxic stress,[4] she is an advisory council member for theClinton Foundation's "Too Small to Fail" campaign,[5] and the founder and former chief executive officer of the Center for Youth Wellness.[2][4] Her work was also featured inPaul Tough's bookHow Children Succeed.[6]
Nadine Burke Harris was born on October 5, 1975 inVancouver, British Columbia.[7] She is of Jamaican heritage and lived briefly in Jamaica before the family moved to the United States when she was 4 years old.[8] Her father is a biochemist and her mother is a nurse. She received her bachelor's degree in integrative biology from theUniversity of California, Berkeley in 1996 and her medical degree from theUniversity of California, Davis.[9] She completed her residency in pediatrics at theLucile Packard Children's Hospital, withinStanford University School of Medicine.[10] After earning her master's degree in public health from theHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health,[11] she went on to serve a residency at Stanford in pediatrics.[12]
Her graduate studies were supported byThe Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans.[13][14]
In 2005, Burke Harris joined the California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) staff, where she was tasked with the goal of developing programs to end health disparities in San Francisco.[15] While at Harvard, Burke Harris identified access to health care as a key component ofhealth disparities in San Francisco.[16] In 2007, with support from CPMC, she became the founding physician of the Bayview Child Health Center and medical director of the new clinic.[4][16]
In 2008, after reading "The Relationship of Adverse Childhood Experiences to Adult Health: Turning Gold Into Lead," by Vincent J. Felitti, Burke Harris realized that her patients' traumatic experiences were having a negative impact on their present and future health.[16]
In 2011, she was appointed by theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics to the Project Advisory Committee for the Resilience Project.[17]
From 2010 to 2012, Burke Harris co-founded the Adverse Childhood Experiences project in theBayview Hunters Point neighborhood in San Francisco, with colleaguesDaniel Lurie from Tipping Point Foundation,Kamala Harris, Victor G. Carrion,Lenore Anderson, Lisa Pritzker, and Katie Albright. From this effort, the Center for Youth Wellness was created in 2012 to create a clinical model that recognizes the impact of adverse experiences on health and effectively treats toxic stress in children. The multidisciplinary approach focuses on preventing and undoing the chemical, physiological and neurodevelopmental results of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). The Center integrates primary health care, mental health and wellness, research, policy, education, and community and family support services to children and families.[4][16]
In 2014, she spoke at aTED event titledTEDMED in San Francisco.[18] Her talk, "How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime," had reached over 7.2 million viewers on TED.com as of June 2020.[19]
In 2018, Burke Harris released her first bookThe Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity, published byHoughton Mifflin Harcourt.
On January 21, 2019, California GovernorGavin Newsom appointed her as the state's first Surgeon General.[20] She was sworn in on February 11, 2019. On February 1, 2022, she announced she would resign to focus on her family, effective February 11, 2022.[21][22]
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are defined as preventable and traumatic early experiences; they can range from exposure to violence, poverty and neglect, to physical, emotional and sexual abuse.[23] As a result, it may increase the likelihood for "risky health behaviors, chronic health conditions, low life potential, and early death"[23] in adulthood. Exposure to ACEs may lead totoxic stress, which varies from typical stress in that it is chronic and excessive, and results in antagonistic physiological responses that can lead to poor health outcomes in life.[24]
The Center for Youth Wellness (CYW) aims to improve child and adolescent health by targeting the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences. A main goal of the CYW is that "every pediatrician in the United States will screen for Adverse Childhood Experiences by 2028."[25] More specifically, they target ACEs in San Francisco'sBayview/Hunter's Point neighborhood, a generally underserved area that had a poverty rate of 39% in 2010.[26] The CYW identified that exposure to ACEs, along with high violence,[4] increases the likelihood for detrimental health outcomes in this neighborhood.[24] They use a combination of ACEs risk screening (via questionnaire), care coordination, and multidisciplinary treatment (primary care, psychotherapy, psychiatry and biofeedback).[25]
Burke Harris married Arno Lockheart Harris in 2011 at Dawn Ranch Lodge inGuerneville, California.[27] She is the mother of four boys. Her mother was hospitalized in the ICU, atStanford University Medical Center, during theCOVID-19 pandemic, with an illness other than COVID, and due to COVID restrictions she was unable to visit her.[28] She resigned from her position in February 2022 to care for herself and her family.[22]
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