Former provost visits UC to celebrate his 90th birthday

By Richard A. Puff, Chief Communications Officer, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine

Donald Harrison, MD, who served as UC senior vice president and provost for health affairs from 1986 until 2002, toured the Vontz Center for Molecular Studies and the Donald C. Harrison Health Sciences Library on Feb. 24, 2024, his 90th birthday.

Harrison was accompanied by 16 family members and met with College of Medicine faculty and UC Libraries staff. The Vontz Center, which opened in 1999, was one of several buildings constructed on the UC Medical Campus during Harrison’s tenure as provost.

The health sciences library was named in his honor in 2008. Prior to coming to Cincinnati, Harrison spent 23 years at the Stanford University School of Medicine, mostly as chief of cardiology. In 1968, he was part of the team at Stanford University that performed the first heart transplant in the United States.