Dr. Bernard Harris
Dr. Bernard Harris, c. 2000
Dr. Bernard Harris, age 18. (Courtesy of Dr. Harris)
Dr. Bernard Harris was born in Temple, Texas in 1956, but spent his early years in Houston. His parents divorced when he was young, and he and his brother and sister followed their mother to Arizona when she accepted a teaching position the Navajo reservation in Arizona. Dr. Harris and his siblings were the only African-American students in their school, and he learned at an early age to adapt to a different culture. It was on the reservation that Dr. Harris developed his dream of being a doctor and traveling to space. He was inspired by the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo flights by NASA in the 1960s, but also became awestruck when he looked at the night sky in Arizona.
Dr. Harris returned to Texas at the age of fifteen and soon graduated from Sam Houston High School in San Antonio. Dr. Harris majored in biology at the University of Houston, and then moved on to medical school at Texas Tech University. He was the only African American in his medical school class. He earned his medical degree in 1982. Dr. Harris chose the residency program in internal medicine at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. The Mayo Clinic is an internationally renowned facility.
To fulfill his second dream, Dr. Harris applied to the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA). He joined NASA in 1990 as a clinical scientist and flight surgeon. Dr. Bernard Harris made multiple flights in space. On a shuttle mission in 1995, he became the first African American to walk in space. He left NASA in 1996.
At present, Dr. Harris runs a venture capital firm called Vesalius which is headquartered in Houston. He also launched the Harris Foundation to help K-12 students achieve their full potential. Dr. Harris holds factuality positions at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Baylor College of Medicine, University of Texas School of Medicine, and the University of Texas School of Public Health.
Next Biography: Dr. Clarence Higgins
Return to: Story Experience: 1981 – 2002
Return to: African-American Physicians’ Achievements