Daniel Harris

Daniel Harris fell in love with research while an undergraduate student at the University of Massachusetts Boston, where he studied perception and cognition in infants alongside a cognitive neuroscientist.

“We did infant eye-tracking studies and brain imaging, and I really loved the whole process,” he said. “I was hooked.”

He was strongly considering a Ph.D. in neuroscience when his career aspirations took an unexpected turn after traveling to South Africa as a senior in college.

“That’s where I caught the public health bug,” he said.

There, he studied the intersections of politics, drug access, HIV and infectious diseases, and their vast ramifications on health and became enthralled with research that helps people.

“I could see the impact of medication access, which is a largely policy-related or resource question that can be addressed,” he said. “That has a big impact on health, and it caused me to pivot.”

He obtained his master of public health at Brown University, where he married his interests in brain science and public health, becoming a geriatric pharmacoepidemiologist.

“My core areas of research investigate common drugs used among persons living with dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases largely in assisted living facilities, but also in the community.”

He then obtained his doctorate in epidemiology with concentrations in pharmacoepidemiology, artificial intelligence, and data science from the University of Toronto.

Now, Harris is joining the University of Delaware College of Health Sciences epidemiology program as a tenure-track assistant professor, where his research will continue in earnest.

“UD’s epidemiology program has strong focuses on surveillance and applied epidemiology, which I found compelling,” Harris said. “It’s also a newer department with strong existing faculty, which I found exciting.”

Harris is no stranger to embarking on new endeavors. At the University of Toronto, he founded a Journal of Public Health to help students get published.

“There’s a lot of great student research happening in classrooms and on campus,” he said. “We want students to participate in the academic process, but we don’t always give them all the skills to do that, so this gave them the opportunity to go through the peer review process, which helps showcase their research.”

At UD, Harris is eager to collaborate with the Delaware Center for Cognitive Aging Research and colleagues in epidemiology studying medication adherence.

His research has centered around the safety and effectiveness of antipsychotics in nursing home settings and the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in older adults. His research on the COVID-19 vaccine in older adults, published in JAMA Open Network and the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, was incorporated into national guidelines and integrated into the Netherlands’ National Immunization Program.

“I’m focused on defining the next important question regarding prescribing in nursing homes for persons with dementia,” Harris said. “There are many unanswered questions; it’s a bit of a choose-your-own-adventure when it comes to prescribing, so I’d like to address that.”

“I'm also a big data fanatic. I like using big data and novel methods like machine learning to see if we can refine that decision-making process.”

He recently secured a $1.7 million grant from GlaxoSmithKline to study the effect of the shingles vaccine on dementia risk in older adults in U.S. nursing home settings.

In the future, he hopes to partner with neighboring pharmaceutical companies like AstraZeneca, headquartered in Wilmington, to establish a training pipeline for UD’s Epidemiology program and master’s students.

“Pharmaceutical companies do some brilliant work and lead highly influential clinical trials on novel drugs and vaccines, so I’d love to get our master’s students real-world pharmacoepidemiology experience,” he said.

He also hopes to design a course series in pharmacoepidemiology that includes collaborations with biopharmaceutical companies and regulators.

In addition to his research, Harris is proud of his time mentoring students.

“I love seeing students succeed,” he said. In terms of public health research, I want to guide them toward what they feel passionate about, help them find a specific career or research area, and prepare them to be successful every step of the way.”

For fun, Harris loves weightlifting and running, and he’s a foodie excited to check out the best restaurants in Delaware.