[1] Harris moved to Minnesota, where she ran in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor in 1990 and eventually for mayor of Eden Prairie.
An accomplished pianist, Harris competed in numerous classical piano competitions through the United States.
[5] Harris spent three years as an intern and resident at MCV before completing her post-graduate training at the University of Rochester.
She served as the director of medical affairs at the University of Minnesota Hospital and Clinic, and was a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
Harris became the first African American cabinet member in the Commonwealth of Virginia when Governor John Dalton appointed her Secretary of Human Resources in 1978.
She served as Chief of the United States Bureau of Resources Development, a consultant to the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the United States Agency on International Development and to the Congress during the Johnson and Nixon administrations.. Harris served as Vice President and health lobbyist for Control Data Corporation in Minnesota.