As founding director of UCSF's Fetal Treatment Center, Harrison is internationally renowned for his expertise and innovation in pediatric and fetal surgery. Widely regarded as the "father of fetal surgery," Harrison, over the last three decades, concentrated his lab efforts to establish the developmental pathophysiology of correctable birth defects in animal models, and develop and test techniques for fetal intervention (including maternal-fetal anesthesia), prior to clinical application.
His Beginnings
Originally from the Pacific Northwest, a cum laude graduate and former lightweight Varsity Crew Team captain of Yale University, Dr. Harrison went on to receive his M.D., magna cum laude, from Harvard Medical School, and then chose to pursue a career in surgery. He remained in the Boston area to complete general surgical residency training at the Massachusetts General Hospital. To poise himself for pediatric surgery fellowship and to satisfy his own scientific curiosity, Dr. Harrison took two years off from his clinical training to do basic science research in the Laboratory of Immunology at the NIH, as a postdoctoral research fellow. After residency, he completed pediatric surgery fellowship at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and the Rikshospitalet in Oslo, Norway.
Laying the Foundation for Fetal Treatment
In January 1978, Dr. Harrison accepted a faculty position at UCSF because it offered what he believed was the best opportunity to explore an idea he nurtured since internship—that is, the possibility of fixing certain fetal anatomic defects before birth to avoid the devastating and sometimes irreversible consequences he encountered in newborns. During the 1980s and 1990s, he and his research colleagues developed and refined many of the techniques that have made fetal surgery the fast-evolving and major contribution it is within the surgical profession and within fetal therapy itself. Clinically, Dr. Harrison worked closely with obstetricians, anesthesiologists, geneticists, sonographers, surgical sub-specialists, neonatologists, nurses, and ethicists to lay the foundation for what would be the multidisciplinary UCSF Fetal Treatment Center, the first fetal treatment center in the United States now entering its fourth decade. These efforts took the enterprise from laboratory to the first NIH-sponsored fetal surgery clinical trials to test the safety and feasibility of procedures for anomalies such as congenital diaphragmatic hernia, twin-twin transfusion syndrome, and fetal myelomeningocele.
The Unborn Patient
In 1984, he published the first comprehensive textbook on fetal therapy, "The Unborn Patient: Prenatal Diagnosis and Treatment", which is now in its third edition. Dr. Harrison’s expertise in pediatric and fetal surgery has international renown. He has been recognized by colleagues for his contributions to the field and honored with a number of awards. Most recently, Dr. Harrison received the prestigious American College of Surgeons Jacobson Innovation Award in honor of his work in creating the specialty of fetal surgery.
Considered to be a surgeon ahead of his time, Dr. Harrison’s experimental work in animal models and clinical work on human fetuses and newborns made him the pioneer and recognized founder of fetal surgery as a specialty field in the United States and abroad, and his accomplishments remain the guiding force for the future of fetal medicine. He is widely regarded as the “Father of Fetal Surgery.”
Continuing Innovation Today
Dr. Harrison's pioneering spirit continues and manifests in a new direction of innovation. Harrison's current research focuses on pediatric orphan device development, particularly devices employing the use of magnetic force. His most recent work has earned him one of three prestigious stimulus grants awarded by the FDA to fund a pediatric device consortium at UCSF.
The Harrison Lab
Over the last six years, the Harrison lab has explored the use of magnetic force to correct a variety of problems and deformities. They began with the Magnetic Mini-Mover Procedure (3MP) to correct pectus excavatum in children, and tested the Magnimplant device in an FDA-sponsored trial with an FDA-approved IDE. In addition to the Magnetic Mini-Mover, they are continuing to develop and test:
- The Magnamosis device which uses specially designed magnets to create a secure compression anastomosis between any two pieces of intestine
- A magnetic internal-control contraction device to assist in laparoscopic surgery
- The Robo-Implant device, which uses magnetic coupling to activate and lengthen and shorten an internal growing rod for treatment of scoliosis and for limb lengthening.
- Treatment of obstructive sleep apnea by possibility of implanting a magnet on the hyoid bone and using an external orthotic magnetic device
UCSF Pediatric Device Consortium
Under the auspices of the UCSF Pediatric Device Consortium, the mission of the Harrison Lab is to facilitate the development, production, and distribution of pediatric medical devices by:
- Encouraging innovation and connecting qualified individuals with pediatric device ideas with potential manufacturers
- Mentoring and managing pediatric device projects through the development process, including product identification, prototype design, device development, and marketing
- Connecting innovators and physicians to existing Federal and non-Federal resources
- Assessing the scientific and medical merit of proposed pediatric device projects
- Providing assistance and advice as needed on business development, personnel training, prototype development, and post-marketing needs