Miriam TH Harris, MD, MSc
Assistant Professor
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
Medicine
General Internal Medicine

MD, McMaster University



Dr. Harris is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine and an addiction expert at Boston Medical Center. A graduate of McMaster University School of Medicine, Internal Medicine Residency at the University of British Columbia, General Internal Medicine Fellowship and Masters of Epidemiology at McGill University, and Addiction Medicine Fellowship at Boston University, Dr. Harris is passionate about women's health and harm reduction. Her research interests focus on the intersection of women’s health and substance use including increasing sexual, reproductive, and HIV prevention services in substance use treatment spaces, substance use treatment while pregnant and parenting, and gender-responsive harm reduction.

Clinically, she provides community-based methadone treatment at HCRC Bradston in Boston and attends on the General Medicine units and the Addiction Consult Service at Boston Medical Center.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

My commitment to improving the health of structurally marginalized populations dates back to childhood experiences visiting the Sandy Lake First Nation (or Negaw-zaaga'igan Nitam-Anishinaabe) Oji-Cree reservation while living in Sioux Lookout Ontario, Canada. There I witnessed gross structural and health inequity rooted in racists policies that reinforced Indigenous marginalization. These experiences galvanized my interest in medicine and my devotion to working in partnership with marginalized communities. My clinical, academic, and advocacy work centres on addressing the harms related to substance use and addiction, focusing on upstream structural drivers such as housing policy and the criminalization of drug use and sex work. As a white, cis-women I am committed to ongoing learning and unlearning required to improve my approach to equity and inclusion in my clinical practice, teaching and mentorship, and research domains.

Some DEIA focused activities and research include the following:

Clinical Training:
8/2010 Medical school four-week medical elective in general surgery in Georgetown, Guyana
6/2015 Internal medicine residency four-week global health elective in Gulu, Uganda
6/2018 Internal medicine fellowship, two-week medicine elective in Kuujjuaq, Canada

Institutional Roles Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Justice:
Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, BC
8/2013-6/2016 Global Health Committee Leader
Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA
6/2020-present Diversity and Inclusion committee, Section of General Internal Medicine

Mentoring:
8/2021 Mentor for Summer Training as Research Scholars Program (STaRS) program Mentor. STaRS is designed to promote more equitable access to graduate education for students historically underrepresented in science and medicine.

Major Committee assignments:
9/2020-present 51a Subcommittee for Mandated Reporting on Substance Exposed Newborns, Boston,
MA
Scholarship:
1. Harris M,† Joseph K, Hoeppner B, Wachman EM, Gray JR, Saia K, Wakeman S, Bair-Merritt MH, Schiff DM. A Retrospective Cohort Study Examining the Utility of Perinatal Urine Toxicology Testing to Guide Breastfeeding Initiation. J Addict Med. 2021 Jul-Aug 01; 15(4):311-317. PMID: 33060464
2. Harris MTH,† Lambert AM, Maschke AD, Bagley SM, Walley AY, Gunn CM. "No home to take methadone to": Experiences with addiction services during the COVID-19 pandemic among survivors of opioid overdose in Boston. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2021 Nov 04; 108655. PMID: 34772604
3. Harris MTH,† Laks J, Stahl N, Bagley SM, Saia K, Wechsberg WM. Gender Dynamics in Substance Use and Treatment: A Women's Focused Approach. Med Clin North Am. 2022 Jan; 106(1):219-234. PMID: 34823732



CFAR Developmental Award: Adapting PEP and PrEP for Women Who Inject Drugs and Engage in Sex Work: An Exploratory Study to Support the Development of a Tailored PEP and PrEP Intervention
11/29/2021 - 11/28/2022 (Subcontract PI)
PI: Miriam TH Harris, MD, MSc
The Miriam Hospital NIH NIAID
2P30AI042853-25

ICARMF Fellowship
07/01/2020 - 06/30/2021 (PI)
University of British Columbia


Title

Clinical Investigators Program
07/01/2018 - 06/30/2021 (Aspiring Investigator)
McGill University and Canadian Royal College of Physician and Surgeons

Understanding the Impact of COVID-19 on People at High-Risk of Overdose
06/01/2020 - 03/31/2021 (PI)
BU CTSI
1UL1TR001430

Research in Addictions Medicine Scholar (RAMS) Program
11/01/2018 - 11/01/2020 (RAMS Scholar)
PI: Samet
National Institute on Drug Abuse NIDA
R25DA033211


Yr Title Project-Sub Proj Pubs

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Faculty can login to make corrections and additions.

iCite Analysis       Copy PMIDs To Clipboard

  1. Harris MT, Shannon K, Krüsi A, Zhou H, Goldenberg SM. Structural Barriers to Primary Care Among Sex Workers: Findings from a Community- Based Cohort in Vancouver, Canada (2014-2021). Res Sq. 2024 Aug 28. PMID: 39257992; PMCID: PMC11384805; DOI: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4802645/v1;
     
  2. Harris MT, Weinberger E, O'Brien C, Althoff M, Paltrow-Krulwich S, Taylor JL, Judge A, Samet JH, Walley AY, Gunn CM. PrEP facilitators and barriers in substance use bridge clinics for women who engage in sex work and who use drugs. Addict Sci Clin Pract. 2024 Jun 03; 19(1):47.View Related Profiles. PMID: 38831359; PMCID: PMC11145858; DOI: 10.1186/s13722-024-00476-4;
     
  3. Harris MTH, Laks J, Hurstak E, Jain JP, Lambert AM, Maschke AD, Bagley SM, Farley J, Coffin PO, McMahan VM, Barrett C, Walley AY, Gunn CM. "If you're strung out and female, they will take advantage of you": A qualitative study exploring drug use and substance use service experiences among women in Boston and San Francisco. J Subst Use Addict Treat. 2024 Feb; 157:209190.View Related Profiles. PMID: 37866442; PMCID: PMC11040599; DOI: 10.1016/j.josat.2023.209190;
     
  4. Harris M, Schiff DM, Saia K, Muftu S, Standish KR, Wachman EM. Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine Clinical Protocol #21: Breastfeeding in the Setting of Substance Use and Substance Use Disorder (Revised 2023). Breastfeed Med. 2023 Oct; 18(10):715-733.View Related Profiles. PMID: 37856658; PMCID: PMC10775244; DOI: 10.1089/bfm.2023.29256.abm;
     
  5. Harris MT, Goldenberg S, Cui Z, Fairbairn N, Milloy MS, Hayashi K, Samet JH, Walley AY, Nolan S. Association of sex work and social-structural factors with non-fatal overdose among women who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada. Int J Drug Policy. 2023 Feb; 112:103950.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36640591; PMCID: PMC9974922; DOI: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103950;
     
  6. Laks J, Walley AY, Bagley SM, Barber CM, Gaeta JM, Neville LA, Peterkin AF, Rosenthal E, Saia KA, Weinstein ZM, Harris MTH. Developing a Women's Health track within addiction medicine fellowship: reflections and inspirations. Addict Sci Clin Pract. 2023 Jan 09; 18(1):3.View Related Profiles. PMID: 36617557; PMCID: PMC9827632; DOI: 10.1186/s13722-022-00357-8;
     
  7. Gunn CM, Pankowska M, Harris M, Helsing E, Battaglia TA, Bagley SM. The representation of females in clinical trials for substance use disorder conducted in the United States (2010-19). Addiction. 2022 Oct; 117(10):2583-2590.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35165969; PMCID: PMC10062729; DOI: 10.1111/add.15842;
     
  8. Peterkin AF, Abraham R, Harris MTH. A Case of Phenibut Directed Detoxification Leading to Toxicity During the COVID-19 Pandemic. J Addict Med. 2022 Sep-Oct 01; 16(5):602-605.View Related Profiles. PMID: 35120058; PMCID: PMC9984204; DOI: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000000966;
     
  9. Harris MTH, Laks J, Stahl N, Bagley SM, Saia K, Wechsberg WM. Gender Dynamics in Substance Use and Treatment: A Women's Focused Approach. Med Clin North Am. 2022 Jan; 106(1):219-234.View Related Profiles. PMID: 34823732; PMCID: PMC8881090; DOI: 10.1016/j.mcna.2021.08.007;
     
  10. Harris MTH, Lambert AM, Maschke AD, Bagley SM, Walley AY, Gunn CM. "No home to take methadone to": Experiences with addiction services during the COVID-19 pandemic among survivors of opioid overdose in Boston. J Subst Abuse Treat. 2022 04; 135:108655.View Related Profiles. PMID: 34772604; PMCID: PMC8576611; DOI: 10.1016/j.jsat.2021.108655;
     
Showing 10 of 23 results. Show More

This graph shows the total number of publications by year, by first, middle/unknown, or last author.

Bar chart showing 23 publications over 7 distinct years, with a maximum of 8 publications in 2021

YearPublications
20151
20181
20204
20218
20223
20234
20242

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2020-2021 National Institute on Drug Abuse: International Collaborative Addiction Medicine Research Fellowship
2019 American Society of Addiction Medicine : Ruth Fox Scholarship
2018-2020 National Institute on Drug Abuse: Research in Addictions Medicine Scholar
2017-2019 McGill University & Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons: Clinical Investigators Program, McGill University
2009 Tel Aviv University: MASA Scholarship
In addition to these self-described keywords below, a list of MeSH based concepts is available here.

Substance Use Disorders
Women's Health
Harm Reduction
Pregnancy

Available to Mentor as: (Review Mentor Role Definitions):
  • Co-Mentor or Peer Mentor
  • Education Mentor
  • Work / Life Integration Mentor
Contact for Mentoring:
  • Email (see 'Contact Info')
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