Heather Harris, MD
Professor of Medicine
Dr. Harris is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She earned a B.A. degree magna cum laude in anthropology at Harvard University and her M.D. from Stanford University. After completing residency in Internal Medicine at UCSF, she became the Medical Director of Eden Inpatient Services and helped establish a hospitalist program at this community hospital. Through her work in the community, she developed an interest in palliative medicine and returned to UCSF as a hospitalist and attending on the palliative care service at the university campus at Parnassus. She was a faculty member within the Center to Advance Palliative Care’s Palliative Care Learning Center at UCSF, through which she helped facilitate training programs in establishing hospital-based palliative care teams. She also collaborated in establishing the UCSF Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program.
She subsequently transitioned to San Francisco General Hospital in order to co-found the Supportive and Palliative Care Service as the Associate Medical Director. Nationally, she has served in leadership positions with the Safety Net Special Interest Group and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee within the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Her clinical interests and scholarly endeavors focus on the provision of palliative care to vulnerable and culturally diverse patients in the safety net setting.
Additionally, she had held several administrative roles focused on the importance of clinical documentation. As the Medical Director of the Clinical Documentation Integrity Team at San Francisco General Hospital, she and her colleagues helped transform clinical documentation to better reflect the medical and social complexity of patients cared for within our system. This work yielded significant fiscal impact and unprecedented quality metrics for the hospital and was recognized by the University Healthcare Consortium as well as the San Francisco Health Commission with a Department of Public Health Employee Recognition Award in 2014.
Dr. Harris has also assumed a leadership position in developing and implementing strategies to optimize professional service reimbursement for all clinical services throughout Department of Medicine at ZSFG. She was subsequently appointed to the Clinical Practice Group (CPG) Compliance Committee and became Co-Chair of the Education and Training Sub-Committee. In 2019, Dr. Harris assumed a more formal leadership role working with the CPG as the Medical Director of ZSFG-UCSF Professional Service Documentation in order to expand these initiatives across all clinical Departments at ZSFG.
Education:
• Harvard University, B.A. magna cum laude, Anthropology 1988-1992
• Stanford University School of Medicine, M.D. 1996-2000
Training:
• University of California, San Francisco, Intern Primary Care Internal Medicine, 2000-2001
• University of California, San Francisco, Resident Primary Care Internal Medicine, 2001-2003
Certification:
• Diplomate: Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, 2003-2013, 2013-Current
• Diplomate: Hospice and Palliative Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, 2010-Current
Memberships and Affiliations:
• 2004, American College of Physicians – American Society of Internal Medicine
• 2005, Society of Hospital Medicine
• 2009, American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
2013-2016 Leadership, Safety Net Special Interest Group
She subsequently transitioned to San Francisco General Hospital in order to co-found the Supportive and Palliative Care Service as the Associate Medical Director. Nationally, she has served in leadership positions with the Safety Net Special Interest Group and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee within the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. Her clinical interests and scholarly endeavors focus on the provision of palliative care to vulnerable and culturally diverse patients in the safety net setting.
Additionally, she had held several administrative roles focused on the importance of clinical documentation. As the Medical Director of the Clinical Documentation Integrity Team at San Francisco General Hospital, she and her colleagues helped transform clinical documentation to better reflect the medical and social complexity of patients cared for within our system. This work yielded significant fiscal impact and unprecedented quality metrics for the hospital and was recognized by the University Healthcare Consortium as well as the San Francisco Health Commission with a Department of Public Health Employee Recognition Award in 2014.
Dr. Harris has also assumed a leadership position in developing and implementing strategies to optimize professional service reimbursement for all clinical services throughout Department of Medicine at ZSFG. She was subsequently appointed to the Clinical Practice Group (CPG) Compliance Committee and became Co-Chair of the Education and Training Sub-Committee. In 2019, Dr. Harris assumed a more formal leadership role working with the CPG as the Medical Director of ZSFG-UCSF Professional Service Documentation in order to expand these initiatives across all clinical Departments at ZSFG.
Education:
• Harvard University, B.A. magna cum laude, Anthropology 1988-1992
• Stanford University School of Medicine, M.D. 1996-2000
Training:
• University of California, San Francisco, Intern Primary Care Internal Medicine, 2000-2001
• University of California, San Francisco, Resident Primary Care Internal Medicine, 2001-2003
Certification:
• Diplomate: Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, 2003-2013, 2013-Current
• Diplomate: Hospice and Palliative Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, 2010-Current
Memberships and Affiliations:
• 2004, American College of Physicians – American Society of Internal Medicine
• 2005, Society of Hospital Medicine
• 2009, American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine
2013-2016 Leadership, Safety Net Special Interest Group