Harris Berman

Harris Alan Berman (May 30, 1938 – October 30, 2021) was an American physician and was the dean of the Tufts University School of Medicine.

Berman was born on May 30, 1938 in Concord, New Hampshire.^[1][2] He completed his undergraduate education at Harvard College and graduated from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1964.^[3][4] He completed his residency in internal medicine and a fellowship in infectious disease at Tufts Medical Center.^[3][5]

After finishing his fellowship, he and Jim Squires, a friend just out of his general surgery residency,^[6] along with three other physicians, co-founded the Matthew Thornton Health Plan,^[7] one of the first health maintenance organizations in New England.^[5] The organization would grow to service 60,000 people by the mid-1980s;^[7]

In 1986, Berman left Matthew Thornton and joined Tufts University School of Medicine as a professor of public health and community medicine.^[6] At the same time, he became the chief executive officer of Tufts Health Plan,^[7] which grew from 60,000 members to over a million members in his 17-year tenure.^[5] From 2003 to 2008, he served as the chair of the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine,^[6] and eventually became the dean of public health and professional degree programs^[5] before being appointed vice dean of the medical school in 2008.^[6] In December 2009, he was appointed dean ad interim for the School of Medicine and was formally appointed to the position of dean in October 2011.^[6]

Berman died on October 30, 2021, at the age of 83. He was survived by his wife, Ruth E. Nemzoff, four children, eleven grandchildren, and a sister.^[8]