Nadine Burke Harris

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Nadine Burke Harris is a Canadian-American pediatrician who served as California’s first Surgeon General from 2019 to 2022. She was born in 1975 in Vancouver, Canada, to Jamaican parents and moved to the United States as a child. She earned a BA in integrative biology from the University of California, Berkeley, an MD from the University of California, Davis, and a Master of Public Health from Harvard University. She completed her pediatrics residency at Stanford University.

In 2007 she helped found the Bayview Child Health Center in San Francisco to focus on health disparities, and in 2012 she helped launch the Center for Youth Wellness to study and treat the effects of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and toxic stress on health. The goal of CYW is for every pediatrician in the United States to screen for ACEs by 2028. Burke Harris argues that early trauma can lead to later health problems, and her work integrates primary care, mental health, research, and community support to help affected children and families. Her ideas gained wide attention through her TED Talk in 2014 and her 2018 book, The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity.

Governor Gavin Newsom appointed her as California’s Surgeon General, and she was sworn in on February 11, 2019. She announced her resignation in February 2022 to focus on her family. Burke Harris is married to Arno Lockheart Harris, whom she wed in 2011, and they have four sons. Her work with CYW and ACEs has influenced public health discussions about how childhood experiences shape lifelong health. She has received several awards, including fellowships and honors recognizing her work in medicine and public health.