Eva Harris

Eva Harris is Professor of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology at the University of California, Berkeley School of Public Health, a key figure in Health Science. She holds the positions of Director of the Center for Global Public Health, Chair of the Infectious Diseases and Immunity Graduate Group, and Program Head of the Infectious Diseases and Immunity PhD Program. Harris also serves as President of the Sustainable Sciences Institute, which she founded in 1998. She earned a BA in Biochemical Sciences from Harvard University in 1987 and a PhD in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1993, followed by postdoctoral fellowship in the Program in Molecular Pathogenesis at UC San Francisco from 1993 to 1996. Her career at UC Berkeley began as Assistant Professor in 1998, advancing to Associate Professor in 2005 and full Professor in 2008. Earlier roles include Associate Dean for Research in the School of Public Health from 2007 to 2008 and Director of the Applied Molecular Biology/Appropriate Technology Transfer Program from 1993 to 2001.

Harris's research centers on molecular virology, pathogenesis, immunology, epidemiology, clinical aspects, and control of dengue, Zika, chikungunya, influenza, and COVID-19, with a focus on tropical countries and scientific capacity building. She pioneered a multidisciplinary approach using in vitro studies, animal models, human cohorts, and long-term collaborations in Nicaragua over 30 years, including pediatric cohort and household transmission studies in Managua. Key investigations cover immune correlates of protection and pathogenesis, antibody-dependent enhancement, viral NS1 protein's role in vascular leak, and SARS-CoV-2 spread and therapeutics. Harris has authored over 330 peer-reviewed articles, including highly cited papers such as Dengue (The Lancet, 2015), Antibody-dependent enhancement of severe dengue disease in humans (Science, 2017), Global spread and persistence of dengue (Annual Review of Microbiology, 2008), and Dengue virus NS1 triggers endothelial permeability and vascular leak (Science Translational Medicine, 2015). Her honors include the MacArthur Fellowship (1997), Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences (2001-2005), NSF Graduate Fellowship (1988-1991), Berkeley Graduate Fellowship (1991-1993), and Global Leader for Tomorrow from the World Economic Forum (2002). Through the Sustainable Sciences Institute and international partnerships, she has advanced scientific infrastructure in Latin America.

Professional Email: eharris@berkeley.edu