Meet Dr. Harris

Dr. Harris is a fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeon specializing in hip and knee replacement. He performs primary and revision hip and knee replacement, the direct anterior and STAR approaches to the hip, partial and patellofemoral knee replacement, and robotic-assisted joint replacement. He sees patients in Skokie, on the North Shore and in Chicago. Interpreter services are available at all three offices. Español · Русский · Polski · 한국어 · Български · Lietuvių · 中文 · עברית.

His philosophy in treating patients hinges on making a shared decision with each individual. After all, hip and knee replacements are elective operations, and there is generally no point at which one becomes "mandatory". Dr. Harris goes through the non-surgical options first and is direct about what each option can achieve. The right time for surgery is when the joint limits a patient's life, non-surgical treatment is no longer working, and the patient decides they are ready.

He has trained on multiple modern joint replacement platforms, including the Mako, ROSA, CORI and VELYS robotic systems, and uses robotic assistance where it helps the operation. His goals are a planned same-day hip or knee replacement for patients who are healthy and motivated, a pain control protocol that minimizes narcotics, and getting patients moving as early as it is safe to do so.

His path to becoming an orthopaedic surgeon began at the University of Florida, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology summa cum laude (highest honors), before attending the University of Florida College of Medicine for his M.D. There he graduated near the top of his class and received the C. Craig Tischer, M.D. Faculty Award for Research, the highest research award the college gives, awarded to one graduating student each year, for work on improving outcomes after orthopaedic surgery.

He completed his residency in orthopaedic surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was Education Chief Resident, responsible for the teaching curriculum followed by every resident in the program. He also served as the program’s representative to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Resident Assembly. Residents from programs across the country then elected him to its Executive Committee.

He went on to fellowship training in hip and knee replacement at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, regarded by many as one of the top institutions in the world for training orthopaedic surgeons. His fellowship covered all aspects of hip and knee replacement, including complex primary and revision joint replacement. That included patients with unusual anatomy, previous surgery, or bone loss, and joint replacements that had worn out, loosened, or become infected. He is Board Eligible with the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgery.

Dr. Harris has authored more than 200 publications and presentations in orthopaedic surgery. His research focuses on who is at higher risk of a complication after a hip or knee replacement. He has published on preoperative anemia, osteoporosis, diabetes control and body mass index as predictors of complications, and on the cost of joint replacement in the United States.

His research appears in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, the Journal of Arthroplasty and the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. His work has been presented at the annual meetings of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons, and the International Congress of Arthroplasty Registries.

He is a peer reviewer for multiple orthopaedic journals. He was selected for the Orthopaedic Research Society's Clinician Scholar Career Development Program, an NIH-funded program for orthopaedic surgeons building research careers, and for the Johns Hopkins Physician Scientist Scholar Program during his residency.

He has also volunteered with Operation Walk, traveling to Ecuador to perform hip and knee replacements at no cost for patients who would otherwise have no access to them.

Dr. Harris grew up in Boca Raton, Florida with a twin and a younger brother. Both of his parents are engineers. He found his way to joint replacement during his medical training, when he saw what modern techniques can accomplish. He saw patients who had lived with daily pain return to normal activity, often moving and sleeping without thinking about the joint at all. Hip replacement has been called “the operation of the century”, and knee replacement is among the most effective treatments for advanced knee arthritis. The chance to make that kind of difference in patients' lives is what drew him to this profession.

Away from the hospital, Dr. Harris lives in Chicago with his wife, a Chicago native.