Tajie Harris

Tajie Harris is an Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. She received her undergraduate degree from Bemidji State University and her PhD from the University of Wisconsin. At UVA, she is the Director of the Center for Brain Immunology and Glia (BIG), a group of investigators that is focused on understanding the role of the immune system in neurological conditions. She is also the co-Director of the National Institutes of Health-funded BIG Training Program (T32) that supports graduate student training in neuroimmunology. Dr. Harris’ research has focused on the immune response to brain infection. In her early research, Dr. Harris defined a migration pattern of CD8+ T cells in the infected brain that is similar to how animals search for food. At the University of Virginia, Dr. Harris was involved in studies that initially described meningeal lymphatic vessels and has subsequently investigated their role during CNS infection. Dr. Harris’ lab continues to define how immune cells are recruited to the brain, including how cell death and alarmin release are linked to neuroinflammation. Dr. Harris was named a Pinn Scholar at the University of Virginia in 2021. In addition to her roles at UVA, she serves on the Organizing Committee for the Americas School of Neuroimmunology and has served an Associate Editor for the Journal of Immunology.