Ronald M. Harris, MD, MBA, is a dermatopathologist with Huntsman Cancer Institute’s Melanoma Program, an assistant professor of dermatology at the University of Utah School of Medicine, and assistant vice president for health sciences diversity. As a dermatopathologist, he reviews slides containing skin cells to determine whether the sample is melanoma, and, if it is, whether the disease is invasive. His analysis of melanoma cells in a biopsy specimen affects treatment choice, the prognosis for individual patients, and the eligibility of the patient for research studies.

Harris also participates in the Tom C. Mathews Jr. Familial Melanoma Research Clinic, where he is investigating the differences in protein and gene expression between moles that appear normal, moles that are atypical, and moles that fit classic melanoma parameters. This allows researchers to identify and understand the molecular basis of melanoma.

Harris received his medical degree from the University of California, San Francisco, in 1989. After an internal medicine internship at Kaiser-Permanente Medical Center, he completed a pathology residency at Penrose-St. Francis Healthcare System in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and a dermatopathology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. He is a fellow of the College of American Pathologists and completed a residency in dermatology at the University of Utah in June 2006.