Professor Harris is a practicing orthopaedic surgeon and academic. His clinical interests are in trauma surgery. His research interests broadly cover the topic of surgical effectiveness and clinical research. He conducts randomised trials, systematic reviews, cohort studies and methodological studies.

Current evidence for surgery is poor, incomplete and largely observational and there is a discrepancy between drug and surgery standards in practice. The implications for the lack of surgical evidence are widespread, and multifaceted approaches from key stakeholders, such as surgeons, policy makers and consumers are required to change practice.