Griffith R. Harsh

Griffith Rutherford Harsh IV is an American neurosurgeon, Professor of Neurological Surgery at the University of California, Davis, and former Julian R. Youmans Endowed Chair of the department.^[1] Dr. Harsh also led the UC Davis School of Medicine and UC Davis Health faculty as Chair of the Council of Department Chairs. Currently, he maintains his academic appointment at UC Davis and holds visiting professorships at the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University,^[2] while living in Nairobi with his wife, Meg Whitman, the US Ambassador to Kenya.^[3]

Following education at Indian Springs School in Alabama, Harvard College, Oxford University, and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Harsh followed his father, Griffith R. Harsh III,^[4] former Chair of the Division of Neurological Surgery at the University of Alabama, Birmingham and Chairman of the American Board of Neurological Surgery, into the specialty.

Clinical Practice: Dr. Harsh completed his residency and fellowship training in neurological surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Subsequently, his clinical focus has been the treatment of tumors of the brain, pituitary, and skull base with surgery and radiosurgery at UCSF, Massachusetts General Hospital-Harvard, Stanford University,^[5] and the University of California, Davis. His clinical research has involved the development and testing of emerging techniques and technologies, such as skull base surgery, intraoperative imaging, proton beam radiation, radiosurgery, and gene therapy.

Basic and Translational Research: Dr. Harsh received training in molecular biology research at the UCSF Brain Tumor Research Center and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He has investigated the mechanisms of brain tumorigenesis (supported by an NCI Career Development Award), gene therapy of brain tumors^[6] (supported by an NIH-NINDS program project grant), and the utility of optical imaging and artificial intelligence in guiding intraoperative surgical decision-making (supported by an NIH-NIBIB P41 grant^[7]). Dr. Harsh has written or co-authored over 240 peer-reviewed scientific articles and book chapters, originated and been the lead editor of four multi-authored scientific and medical textbooks, and served on the Advisory Editorial Board of Neurosurgery.

Teaching and Mentoring: Dr. Harsh has repeatedly been recognized as an “outstanding teacher” by neurosurgery residents at UCSF, Harvard, and Stanford. While directing Stanford's Neurosurgery Residency Program, nationally known for its academic excellence and racial and gender diversity, he guided the expansion from 7 to 21 residents and successfully applied for an NIH R25 grant^[8] for Neurosurgery Resident Research Training. In 2016, he was named Stanford's Outstanding Residency Training Program Director, and upon his departure, was recognized by the Graduate Medical Program for Outstanding Contributions to Graduate Medical Education. He has effectively mentored junior faculty, including neurosurgeons, in Stanford's Development Program for Minority Faculty. At UC Davis, Dr. Harsh has overseen the expansion of the neurosurgery residency from 7 to 15 residents and led UC Davis's successful application for its NIH R25 grant.

Administration: Dr. Harsh, who holds an MBA degree, has successfully managed numerous administrative responsibilities. These include leading the MGH Brain Tumor Center and both establishing and co-leading UCSF's Radiosurgery Program and Stanford's Neuro-Oncology Program (including its Brain Tissue Bank and Clinical Research Committee), Skull Base Surgery Program, and Pituitary Center. As Associate Dean for Postgraduate Medical Education at Stanford's School of Medicine, Dr. Harsh directed the Stanford Center for Continuing Medical Education from 2014 to 2018, leading major transformations in the center's culture, personnel, finances, and activities (including its web presence and innovative online courses). Appointed Chair of the UC Davis Department of Neurological Surgery in 2018, Dr. Harsh led the rapid expansion of the department's faculty, residency program, clinical productivity, and research portfolio. In 2021, he was elected by his peers as Chair of the Council of Chairs of the School of Medicine, composed of the twenty-six department chairs and center directors. In that role, he participated in medical school governance and policy formation and served on the Health System's Clinical Leadership Team, Strategy Accountability Committee, Funds Flow Committee, Program Development Support Group, Executive Board of the Medical Group, and its Committee for Medical System Operations, which he also chaired.

Service: Dr. Harsh has extensive experience leading national neurosurgical organizations. He was a member of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Neurosurgery for seven years, the last two of which he chaired. He has been President of the American Academy of Neurological Surgery and the Neurosurgical Society of America, Chairman of the Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and Vice President of the Society of Neurological Surgeons,^[9] which conferred on him its Distinguished Service Award in 2022. He currently serves as a distinguished scholar of the American Board of Neurological Surgery. His service to non-profit institutions has also included memberships on the Board of Fellows of Harvard Medical School, the Advisory Council on Education of Harvard Medical School, and the Board of Trustees of the Environmental Defense Fund.^[10]

1. Indian Springs School: Valedictorian, Community Mayor
2. National Merit Scholar
3. Harvard College: Harvard National Scholarship
4. Freshman Scholarship Prize
5. de Tur Award (Outstanding Junior Scholar)
6. Phi Beta Kappa (Junior Twelve); A.B. summa cum laude
7. Oxford University: Rhodes Scholarship
8. Journal of Neuro-Oncology Award
9. Outstanding Tumor Paper, American Association of Neurological Surgery
10. Outstanding Residency Training Program Director, Stanford University Hospital
11. Outstanding Teaching Award, Departments of Neurological Surgery: UCSF, Harvard University – MGH, and Stanford
12. Van Wagenen Lecturer, Annual Meeting, American Association of Neurological Surgery
13. Distinguished Service Award, Society of Neurological Surgeons

Books

• Harsh G, ed. Management of Cerebral Metastasis. WB Saunders. Philadelphia 1996.
• Raffel C, Harsh G, eds. The Molecular Basis of Neurosurgical Disease. Williams and Wilkins. Baltimore (ISBN 978-0683183122). 1996.
• Harsh G, ed. Chordomas and Chondrosarcomas of the Skull Base and Spine. Thieme. New York. (ISBN 0-86577-985-6). 2003.
• Harsh G, Vaz F, eds. Chordomas and Chondrosarcomas of the Skull Base and Spine. Second Edition. Elsevier. New York. (ISBN 9780128042571). 2017.

Scientific Articles

• Itakura H, Achrol A, Mitchell L, Loya J, Liu T, Westbroek E, Feroze A, Rodriguez S, Echegaray S, Azad T, Yeom K, Napel S, Rubin D, Chang S, Harsh G*, Bevaert O* (*co-senior authors); Magnetic resonance image features identify glioblastoma phenotypic subtypes with distinct molecular pathway activities. Science Translational Medicine. 2015 Sep 2;7(303):303ra138. PMID 26333934 doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aaa7582.
• Bredel M, Yadav A, Renfrow J, Alvarez A, Lin D, Scholtens D, He X, Khatlani T, Bredel C, Phillips H, Vogel H, Chandler J, Mobley B, Robe P, Chakravarti A, Scheck A, Sikic B, Aldape K, Harsh G. NFkBIA in Gliobalstomas. New England Journal of Medicine 364:637-647, 2011.
• Harsh G, Thornton A, Chapman P, Bussiere M, Rabinov J, Loeffler J: Proton beam stereotactic radiosurgery of vestibular schwannomas. International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics 54:35-44, 2002.
• Harsh G, Deisbock T, Louis D, Hilton J, Colvin M, Silver J, Qureshi N, Kracher J, Finkelstein D, Chiocca A, Hochberg F. Thymidine kinase activation of ganciclovir in recurrent malignant gliomas: A gene marking and neuropathologic study. Journal of Neurosurgery 92:804-811, 2000.
• Ikeda K, Ichikawa T, Wakimoto H, Silver J, Deisboeck T, Finkelstein D, Harsh G, Louis D, Bartus R, Hochberg F, Chiocca E: Oncolytic virus therapy of multiple tumors in the brain requires suppression of innate and elicited antiviral responses. Nature Medicine 5(8):881-7, 1999.

Harsh is married to Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay and former CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise; she was also the 2010 Republican nominee for governor of California.