Patrick names physician to lead Medicaid office, serving 1 million

The state Senate budget approved last week included more than $10.5 billion for MassHealth, about a third of the overall state budget.

Harris has served as codirector of the Boston chapter of Doctors for America, a national organization that played a role in advocacy efforts that led to passage last year of a landmark federal health care access law.

Harris is also a clinical fellow on the faculty at Harvard Medical School and a senior resident in internal medicine and primary care at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which is affiliated with the Southern Jamaica Plain Community Health Center. He formerly managed the World Bank Institute’s AIDS program and has worked on national health payment and delivery system reform at McKinsey & Co.

In a statement, the secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, said Harris “will bring to this role an impressive range of clinical, health policy, and business experience.’’

Harris graduated from Duke University with a degree in medical ethics and health policy and studied economic and social history at Oxford University. He received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and a master’s in business administration degree from the Wharton School of Business.

Harris serves on the Health Reform Task Force of the Massachusetts Medical Society and is a member of the Quality and Patient Safety Committee of the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine.

Harris starts his new job July 18. Terry Dougherty, the current Medicaid director, will stay on at the Executive Office of Health and Human Services through August, to help with transitions, the administration said.