The Real MAD Scientist | Dr. Robert A. Harris | Chung Huong Institute Podcast

Ever wondered what makes one a real #madscientist or a real #madman ?!You might be surprised to find out it’s part of you. 👀Professor Robert Harris has been Academic Vice President for Doctoral Education since 2019 at Karolinska Institutet (KI). Prof. Harris completed his undergraduate training at Portsmouth Polytechnic (UK) in 1987, his postgraduate training at University College London (UK) in 1991 and was named Professor of Immunotherapy in Neurological Diseases at KI in 2013. Harris has previously served as Central Director of doctoral education at KI (2008-2018), working specifically with developing quality control for KI doctoral education through a variety of teaching and organisational activities, and also teaches widely at national and international institutions. He has also served as Director of doctoral education for the Department of Clinical Neuroscience (2005-2018). He was and Chairperson of the International Advisory Council at KI from 2019-2023. In 2014 he was one of two recipients of the KI pedagogy prize, the first to receive it for a contribution to doctoral education. Prof. Harris was also President of ORPHEUS (2015-2022; Vice-President 2013-2015), The Organisation for PhD Education in Biomedicine and Health Sciences in the European System, which aims to stimulate quality assurance of PhD research and education and to strengthen career opportunities for PhD graduates. In 2024, he was named the inaugural recipient of the FEBS Education award (Federation of European Biochemical Societies). Within ORPHEUS and FEBS, he has conducted workshops in PhD supervision training and leadership development at universities and research organizations all over the world Prof. Harris leads the research group Applied Immunology and Immunotherapy at the Centre for Molecular Medicine, a designated translational medicine centre at Karolinska Institutet. They conduct a strongly interconnected research programme aimed at using knowledge gained from projects in basic science to applications in a clinical setting, with focus on understanding why chronic inflammatory diseases of the nervous system occur, and then devise ways to prevent or treat them. Current focus is on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Multiple Sclerosis. Prof. Harris has served as consultant to the Swedish biotechnology company Dia amyd Medical AB with whom he has numerous patents and developed a vaccine for treatment of Type 1 diabetes to Phase III clinical trials.