Dr Matthew Harris

Dr Matthew Harris (HF 2014-15 ) was at New York University mentored by Prof James Macinko (UCLA) and Dr Don Goldman (IHI).  Looking at the barriers and challenges to Reverse Innovation (adopting low cost solutions from low-income countries), he published several studies during that year, including a national study in the US on whether researchers rate research from low-income countries worse than from high-income countries, an Implicit Association Test study to assess the unconscious biases against low-income country research, and two qualitative studies exploring barriers and challenges to Reverse Innovation according to US policy makers’ experiences.   Before the Harkness Fellowship, Matthew worked in global public health and research and for several years as a Primary Care physician in Brazil, as a WHO Polio Consultant in Ethiopia and as an HIV Technical Consultant in Mozambique. Matt now leads  a research programme on Reverse Innovation at Imperial College London, including the publication of dozens of exemplar low-cost solutions from low-income countries that could be used in the UK NHS and a randomised controlled within-individual cross-over design study that definitively showed how UK clinicians discount research from low-income countries purely because of where the research is from.  His work translating the Brazilian Community Health Worker role into the UK NHS led to pilots across England, recently cited as a Best Practice case study in the NHS Ten Year Plan, 2025.   Matt was awarded an NHS National Clinical Impact Award in 2024. He has published ‘Decolonising Healthcare Innovation: low-cost solutions from low-income countries’ and ‘The Oxford Handbook of Healthcare Innovation’.