Staff & Board

Vanessa Walker Harris, MD

Vanessa Walker Harris, MD

Vanessa Walker Harris, MD

TreasurerDirector of the Office of Family Health Services
Virginia Department of Health
Vanessa Walker Harris, MD Treasurer Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Resources

Vanessa Walker Harris, MD, is the Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Resources for Governor Ralph Northam. Prior to her appointment, she served as director of the Office of Family Health Services at the Virginia Department of Health from 2015-2020. In that role, she provided strategic leadership to teams engaged in nutrition, data surveillance, and maternal and child health. She also served as the Director of the Division of Prevention and Health Promotion at VDH, and oversaw implementation of programs targeting chronic disease prevention, injury and violence prevention, and oral health promotion. She began her career in public health as Medical Director of the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Control at the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Originally from Ohio, she earned a BS in Chemistry from Hampton University and a medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She completed internal medicine residency at Johns Hopkins Bayview and endocrine fellowship at Johns Hopkins.

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