Jacqueline
Harris
,
MD
707 N. Broadway, 5001
Baltimore, MD 21205
United States
About
Dr. Jacqueline Harris (nee Weissman) is the director of the Epigenetics Clinic at Kennedy Krieger Institute and an associate professor in pediatrics, neurology and genetics at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Dr. Harris is currently the director of the Epigenetics Clinic at Kennedy Krieger Institute and a Neurology/Medical consultant to the Neurobehavioral Unit at Kennedy Krieger Institute. Dr. Harris specializes in patients with epigenetic disorders with neurologic and/or cognitive manifestations including Kabuki syndrome, Rubinstein-Taybi syndrome, Wiedemann-Steiner syndrome, Angelman syndrome, Kleefstra syndrome, Sotos syndrome, Malan syndrome, and KAT6A disorder.
Education
Dr. Harris received her BA with Honors in English Language and Literature and Neurobiology from The University of Chicago. She earned an MD from Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University and an MS in Clinical Research Scholars Program from Case Western Reserve University.
She completed a residency in pediatrics at the Children's Medical Center at UT Southwestern.
Research
Dr. Harris is interested in genetic and epigenetic causes of neurodevelopmental disorders - particularly intellectual disability - and how specific genetic and epigenetic changes lead to specific neuroanatomic, neurophysiologic and cognitive phenotypes. She is also interested in developing specific cognitive profiles in genetic syndromes as potential outcome measures for trails and to help localize deficits. Most of her research is currently centered around Kabuki syndrome.
Research Publications
Bjornsson HT, Benjamin JS, Zhang L, Weissman J, Gerber EE, Chen YC, Vaurio RG, Potter MC, Hansen KD, Dietz HC (2014). Histone deacetylase inhibition rescues structural and functional brain deficits in a mouse model of Kabuki syndrome. Sci Transl Med. 6(256), 256ra135.
Weissman J, Naidu S, Bjornsson HT (2014). Abnormalities of the DNA methylation mark and its machinery: an emerging cause of neurologic dysfunction. Semin Neurol. 34(3), 249-57.
Weissman JR, Kelley RI, Bauman ML, Cohen BH, Murray KF, Mitchell RL, Kern RL, Natowicz MR (2008). Mitochondrial disease in autism spectrum disorder patients: a cohort analysis. PLoS One. 3(11), e3815.
Harris J, Mahone EM, Bjornsson HT. Molecularly confirmed Kabuki (Niikawa-Kuroki) syndrome patients demonstrate a specific cognitive profile with extensive visuospatial abnormalities. J Intellect Disabil Res. 2019 Feb 14.
Adam MP, Banka S, Bjornsson HT, Bodamer O, Chudley AE, Harris J, Kawame H, Lanpher BC, Lindsley AW, Merla G, Miyake N, Okamoto N, Stumpel CT, Niikawa N; Kabuki Syndrome Medical Advisory Board. Kabuki syndrome: international consensus diagnostic criteria. J Med Genet. 2019 Feb;56(2):89-95
Weissman JR, Kelley RI, Bauman ML, et al. Mitochondrial disease in autism spectrum disorder patients: a cohort analysis. PLoS One. 2008;3(11):e3815.
Bjornsson HT, Benjamin JS, Zhang L, Weissman J, et al. Histone deacetylase inhibition rescues structural and functional brain deficits in a mouse model of Kabuki syndrome. Sci Transl Med. 2014 Oct 1;6(256):256ra135
Cogne B, Ehresmann S, Beauregard-Lacroix E, et al, … Harris J, … Kury S, Campeau PM. Missense Variants in the Histone Acetyltransferase Complex Component Gene TRRAP Cause Autism and Syndromic Intellectual Disability. Am J Hum Genet. 2019 Mar 7;104(3):530-541.
Chin E, Cohen J, Harris J. Vigabatrin as a targeted treatment of GABA-B receptor-related epileptic encephalopathy: A case report. Pediatric Neurology. In press.
Weissman J, Naidu S, Bjornsson HT. Abnormalities of the DNA methylation mark and its machinery: an emerging cause of neurological dysfunction. Semin Neurol. 2014 Jul;34(3):249-57
Harris JR and Fahrner JA. Disrupted epigenetics in the Sotos syndrome neurobehavioral phenotype. Curr Opin Psychiatry. 2019 Mar;32(2):55-59.