Z. Leah Harris, M.D., is a professor and chair of the Department of Pediatrics and director of the Dell Pediatric Research Institute at Dell Medical School. She also serves as physician-in-chief at Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas.

Prior to joining Dell Med, she served as chief of the Division of Critical Care Medicine at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, vice chair for faculty affairs and a professor of pediatrics in the Division of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Harris received her medical degree from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science Chicago Medical School and completed her residency, chief residency and fellowship training in pediatric critical care medicine at the University of Chicago Hospitals. Her first faculty appointment was as an instructor of pediatrics in the Division of Critical Care Medicine, Department of Pediatrics at Washington University-St. Louis. There, she successfully competed for and received her K08 and R01 from the NIDDK/NIH to study the role of iron in human biology (1994-2001).

In 2001, she joined Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, where she went on to be the fellowship director for pediatric critical care medicine, ran the molecular and cellular core biology labs for the department and held a joint appointment in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. While at Johns Hopkins, she was promoted to associate professor of pediatrics.

In 2009, Harris was recruited to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt in Nashville, where she was vice chair for academic affairs in the Department of Pediatrics, division chief of pediatric critical care medicine and a member of the hospital-based medicine and palliative care teams. In 2012, she moved back to Chicago to become division chief of critical care medicine for the Department of Pediatrics at the Feinberg University School of Medicine at Northwestern University in the new Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. She was promoted to professor of pediatrics and presented with the endowed Krehbiel Professorship in Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.

Her areas of interest include transition metal biology, nutrition, medical education and inter-professional development. She has held leadership roles in many professional organizations, including the Association of Pediatric Program Directors and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. She is a reviewer for a number of academic journals and has published numerous peer-reviewed articles in publications including Journal of Thoracic Cardiovascular Surgery, Critical Care Medicine, Journal of Neuroscience, Cell Metabolism, Blood, Nature Chemistry, Journal of Biological Chemistry and Journal of Nutrition. She is a fellow graduate of the 17th Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine class (2012) from Drexel University College of Medicine.