About

André is currently pursuing a PhD in Social Work at the University of Houston’s Graduate College of Social Work. Mr. Harris is serving in his second term on the Rare Disease Legislative Advocates Advisory Committee and as President of the Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) University of Houston chapter. André also serves on the Executive Board of the Sickle Cell Association of Houston and holds positions on several other advisory boards for sickle cell and rare disease stakeholders to include Forma Therapeutics, NHLBI, and HHS. He is a proud member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. and was recently appointed as the National Sickle Cell Liaison Director, a position that allows him to strengthen the social action interests the fraternity has in supporting the sickle cell community. André is a native of Kalamazoo, Michigan and is inspired by his fellow sickle cell community.

I have been operating as a professional sickle cell advocate for the past 7 years. In this time, I have helped work on the legislation signed by President Trump in 2018, I have worked at the state level as an advocate in North Carolina to ensure legislation, and other initiatives had the patient’s best interest in mind, I have had the privilege of sitting of numerous pharmaceutical advisory boards to ensure that new drugs and therapies being developed were patient centered, I have been honored to sit on boards for government healthcare agencies to lend the patient perspective in policies and initiatives around sickle cell from a federal perspective. Lastly, I was also privileged to intern in the office of Texas State Representative Jarvis Johnson, a vocal sickle cell advocate in the Texas House of Representatives. We filed 3 bills directly addressing sickle cell, one passed the house with bipartisan support, but died in the senate, and one resolution passed unanimously. These experiences were fulfilling and motivating. To be able to make a direct impact on the lives of sickle cell patients and the overall community is my life’s work!