Joseph Harris, M.D.,

Physician

Mentee:

Mousa, 16, Jordan

Joseph Harris, M.D. was born in the Bronx during the 1950s. He attended New York City’s public schools, until, at age fifteen, he dropped out. He received a GED, matriculated to Borough of Manhattan Community College, and then attended City College, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry.

Dr. Harris began working at an early age, he left home at 15, and had to support himself on the Lower East Side. Before becoming a physician, he worked as a laborer, shipfitter, MTA bus driver and subway car cleaner, truck and cab driver, welder and diesel mechanic.

He was a member of the Black Panther Party, and was on the very first Venceremos Brigade in support of the Cuban Revolution.

He attended Universite de Paris 8eme and attended Medical School in Monpellier. Afterwards he returned to New York and completed his medical studies at Brooklyn’s SUNY Downstate.

Dr. Harris worked as a physician with Doctors Without Borders in civil war Colombia during 1999, the year the organization won the Noble Peace Prize.

He has lived in Paris and the south of France; Dakar, Senegal; Antigua, Guatemala; and Managua, Nicaragua. Dr. Harris speaks Spanish and French fluently, and has a rudimentary knowledge of Arabic.

He is the father of two adult sons, and is currently an HIV specialist practicing in New York City.