Resident Spotlight: Dr. Katie Harris, Diagnostic Radiology Resident PGY2
This month included both World Mental Health Day and Mental Health Awareness Week, important reminders to prioritize mental health and wellbeing, especially in work and education. That’s something PGY2 Diagnostic Radiology (DR) Resident Dr. Katie Harris understood when she joined the program’s Social Committee and volunteered to lead a new wellness initiative.
Dr. Harris originally started her education in aerospace, completing her Honours Bachelor of Science with High Distinction from Trinity College, University of Toronto (U of T), majoring in Physics and Astronomy & Astrophysics. From there, she received her Master of Science, Space Studies, at the International Space University in Strasburg, France. It was during this time that Dr. Harris decided to integrate her passion for space into her new love for medicine.
After completing an internship in space medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Harris headed back to her home province to get her Doctor of Medicine at Memorial University of Newfoundland, where she fell in love with many aspects of medicine, most notably interventional radiology.
“I was originally really interested in surgery, and during medical school I also really liked emergency medicine and cardiology,” Dr. Harris says. “But after shadowing interventional radiology, I knew that’s what I wanted to pursue in conjunction with aerospace medicine.”
To do this, Dr. Harris has been diligent about both injecting space science into her studies and projects while also carving out time to focus on her research into space radiology. “Before pursuing medicine alongside space science, I benefited from really outstanding mentorship,” Dr. Harris says of her time at the European Astronaut Centre and Harvard Medical School. “That mentorship and guidance was an integral reason as to why I’ve made it a priority to continue with my space research and integrate aerospace into my medical career.”
Another priority for Dr. Harris since beginning her DR residency in 2023 has been maintaining the sense of community and camaraderie she’s found amongst her co-residents.
“The biggest highlight of residency so far has been my cohort of residents,” she says. “COVID really impacted that experience of student bonding during medical school, but as we’ve had looser restrictions, we’ve really been able to bond. My 11 co-residents are the best I could ask for, and it’s such a joy to get to know them, learn from them, and work with them.”
In the interest of building community, Dr. Harris joined the Radiology Residency Social Committee last year, helping plan social gatherings for the radiology residents. For her PGY2 year, Dr. Harris proposed the program’s new wellness initiative, the Resident Coffee (Half) Hour, which was the brainchild of the Radiology table at the Co-Learning in Quality Improvement event at the end of last year. The proposal was championed by the current head of the social committee, Dr. Sabrina Fitzgerald, and was approved in August.
The coffee (half) hour, which started in September and is running as a pilot until the end of December, was originally implemented to address gaps in wellness among residents after a quality improvement survey was circulated through the DR program by Dr. Henry Weibe and found that residents often feel isolated from each other, as well as their fellows and staff during training. Taking place most Thursdays in the half hour time slot before academic half days, the new initiative offers an opportunity for residents to get together with each other as well as fellows, medical students and faculty to informally network and build community over coffee and TimBits.
So far, Dr. Harris says the coffee hour has been well attended by residents, and she hopes to keep the momentum going after the pilot is done. “There’s been a lot of teamwork and faculty support to get this off the ground, and we had a lot of feedback and suggestions for future coffee hours as the weeks go on,” she says.
The initiative has been an overall hit, with only a couple issues noted by residents and Dr. Harris, mostly the lack of week-to-week consistency during the first half of the school year, due to other scheduled events in the half hour before the academic half days. Going forward, Dr. Harris and other Social Committee members will be monitoring success measures in hopes of extending the coffee hour into next year.
Dr. Harris currently holds two research roles, including International Research Fellow, Center for Space Medicine Research, Harvard University and Secretary/Founding Member of the Society for Space Radiology. On top of this, she is also currently writing a chapter for a procedural spaceflight medicine textbook as well as working on other radiology projects with faculty and residents.