CAP TODAY Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Laboratory Management
Dr. Harrison’s strong academic and commercial laboratory experience, including having served as associate medical director, medical director, and corporate medical director of genetic services at Quest Diagnostics between 1997 and 2000, made him stand out as a candidate. “This was a guy who had a background that’s unlike other pathologists,” Dr. Schuerch says. “It was broad in the commercial side and deep on the academic side.”
“He was probably one of the best, certainly the best I’ve known, for his depth and breadth of understanding of the field of clinical pathology.”
Dr. Schuerch says Dr. Harrison was an asset to Geisinger in many ways, including as its “greatest resource on regulatory matters,” thanks to his CAP state commissioner role. He was known, too, for his ability to analyze problems and address concerns about implementing new and different tests. “He was very responsive to people’s inquiries. He would dig to the very bottom of the science in answering questions.”
In his role as director of Geisinger’s some 70 clinic laboratories, Dr. Harrison oversaw quality control and “raised the level of performance of the [Geisinger] laboratory system,” Dr. Schuerch says, adding that Dr. Harrison broke new ground when he instituted QC based on Sigma statistics across the Geisinger system.
“When things went wrong here, he just focused, buckled down, dug to the bottom, and spent the time to go through all of the cases to find which ones might have been affected. He understood the underlying science and technology well and was able to troubleshoot and implement corrective measures,” Dr. Schuerch says.
Dr. Collum predicts it will not be easy for Geisinger to replace Dr. Harrison. “You don’t just find somebody and plug one of those guys in. Harry was unique.”
Dr. Harrison is survived by his wife, Brenda, two daughters, and a son.
—Amy Carpenter Aquino