Raised in Jacksonville, Florida, Karen Harris graduated from Vassar College in New York with a BA in Biology with honors. She received her medical degree from the University of Florida. Upon completion of her residency in 1989, she returned to Gainesville to begin private practice with North Florida Women’s Physicians where she practiced for 29 years. She was the managing partner of the 10-physician group for 13 years. In 2018 she left private practice to start Women’s Group of North Florida, the office practice for the new OB-GYN residency at HCA Florida North Florida Hospital.

Dr. Harris became involved in the Florida Obstetric and Gynecologic Society in 1993, becoming its first woman president in 2001. In addition, she was the second woman president of the Alachua County Medical Society, is involved in the Florida Medical Association, and was on the Perinatal Quality Committee of a national hospital chain. She is active in the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology and was the Chair of ACOG District XII (Florida) in 2015 where she sat on the National Executive Board until 2018.

She returned to the University of Florida to further her education in women’s health care policy and received her Master’s in Public Health in December 2011. She currently is on the Steering Committee of the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative, is the MCH Grants Committee Chair for the Florida Chapter of March of Dimes and is a returning member of the Pregnancy Associated Maternal Mortality Review Committee. In addition, she serves on the ACOG Task Force for Maternal Mortality Reduction nationally.