David Harris

Assistant Professor of Surgery

Mechanistic intersection between bariatric surgery, metabolism, and aging; Bariatric surgery effects on the process of cellular senescence

daharris6@wisc.edu

Website

600 Highland Ave
Madison, WI 53792

Type: Faculty Trainer, MANTP Trainer

Department: School of Medicine and Public Health

MD, University of Virginia

Undergraduate, Bucknell University

Post-operative Hemoglobin Trends for Patients Undergoing Bariatric Surgery: A Retrospective Observational Study

Kate V Lauer, Jamie Ho, Lily N Stalter, Mads Owen, Andre Acra, Megha Brahmbhatt, David A Harris, Anne O Lidor, Luke M Funk

Obesity surgery. 2026 July 25.
Sleeve gastrectomy improves metabolic health, cognition, and Alzheimer’s Disease pathology in 3xTG mice

Reji Babygirija, Julia A Illiano, Michelle M Sonsalla, Grace Zhu, Twinkle Mathew, Tristan Molkentin, Meredith Peterson, Carolyn Winder, Fan Xiao, Justin M Wolter, Dudley W Lamming, David A Harris

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2026 May 4.
Rational Design and Evaluation of Novel TGR5 Agonists for Diabetes

Rachana S Bhimanwar, Zachary Detwiler, Jinge G Zhu, Samuel T Saghafi, Carolyn A Winder, Dawn Belt Davis, Amit Mittal, Vikas Sharma, David A Harris, Snehal N Chaudhari

Molecules (Basel, Switzerland). 2026 April 14.
Sleeve gastrectomy protects lean mice from future obesity

Andrei Moscalu, Reji Babygirijia, Twinkle Mathew, Snehal N Chaudhari, David Zhang, Lei Zhou, Eric G Sheu, David A Harris

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2026 April 10.
Atlas of one-carbon metabolism in conventional and germ-free mice reveals folate as a key determinant of biochemical pathways

Jonathan Williams, Woo Sung Kim, Rebecca Danner, Juyeong Cho, Bianca F Silva, David A Harris, Federico E Rey, Snehal N Chaudhari

Nature metabolism. 2026 March 27.
Restriction of Individual Branched-Chain Amino Acids has Distinct Effects on the Development and Progression of Alzheimer’s Disease in 3xTg Mice

Reji Babygirija, Cara L Green, Michelle M Sonsalla, Izabelle Marie F Le, Fan Xiao, Sarah Yandell, Mariah F Calubag, Michaela E Trautman, Anna Tobon, Ryan Matoska, Chung-Yang Yeh, Charles I Opara, Isaac Grunow, Diana Vertein, Sophia Schlorf, Bailey A Knopf, Michael J Rigby, David A Harris, Mark P Keller, Alan D Attie, Luigi Puglielli, Cholsoon Jang, Dudley W Lamming

Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany). 2026 March 12.
A low-protein diet drives short- and long-term improvements in metabolic health in a mouse model of sleeve gastrectomy

Julia Illiano, Cara L Green, Alina Chao, Grace Zhu, Luiz Lopez, Odin Schaepkens, Cholsoon Jang, Dudley W Lamming, David A Harris

Cell reports. Medicine. 2025 December 2.
Growth Differentiation Factor 15 Elevation in the Central Nervous System Is Associated With Failure to Thrive in Alexander Disease

Tracy L Hagemann, Michelle M Sonsalla, Cora Luzinski, Fernando Zacahua, David A Harris, Dudley W Lamming, Albee Messing

Annals of clinical and translational neurology. 2025 September 30.
The GLP-1 Era-What Comes After Bariatric Surgery?

Kate V Lauer, David A Harris, Luke M Funk

JAMA surgery. 2025 August 27.
Fasting is required for many of the benefits of calorie restriction in the 3xTg mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

Reji Babygirija, Jessica H Han, Michelle M Sonsalla, Ryan Matoska, Mariah F Calubag, Cara L Green, Anna Tobon, Chung-Yang Yeh, Diana Vertein, Sophia Schlorf, Julia Illiano, Yang Liu, Isaac Grunow, Michael J Rigby, Luigi Puglielli, David A Harris, John M Denu, Dudley W Lamming

Nature communications. 2025 August 4.
Tissue-Specific Effects of Dietary Protein on Cellular Senescence Are Mediated by Branched-Chain Amino Acids

Mariah F Calubag, Ismail Ademi, Isaac D Grunow, Lucia E Breuer, Reji Babygirija, Penelope Lialios, Sandra M Le, Michelle M Sonsalla, Julia A Illiano, Bailey A Knopf, Fan Xiao, Dennis Minton, Adam R Konopka, David A Harris, Dudley W Lamming

Aging cell. 2025 July 29.
Tissue-specific effects of dietary protein on cellular senescence are mediated by branched-chain amino acids

Mariah F Calubag, Ismail Ademi, Isaac Grunow, Lucia Breuer, Reji Babygirija, Penelope Lialios, Sandra Le, Dennis Minton, Michelle M Sonsalla, Julia Illiano, Bailey A Knopf, Fan Xiao, Adam R Konopka, David A Harris, Dudley W Lamming

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2025 January 27.
Fasting is required for many of the benefits of calorie restriction in the 3xTg mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease

Reji Babygirija, Jessica H Han, Michelle M Sonsalla, Ryan Matoska, Mariah F Calubag, Cara L Green, Anna Tobon, Chung-Yang Yeh, Diana Vertein, Sophia Schlorf, Julia Illiano, Yang Liu, Isaac Grunow, Michael J Rigby, Luigi Puglielli, David A Harris, John M Denu, Dudley W Lamming

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology. 2024 October 10.
A small intestinal bile acid modulates the gut microbiome to improve host metabolic phenotypes following bariatric surgery

Yingjia Chen, Snehal N Chaudhari, David A Harris, Cullen F Roberts, Andrei Moscalu, Vasundhara Mathur, Lei Zhao, Ali Tavakkoli, A Sloan Devlin, Eric G Sheu

Cell host & microbe. 2024 July 23.
Comment on: The APB study: apixaban pharmacokinetics in bariatric patients before to 1 year after vertical sleeve gastrectomy or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass

Jacqueline A Murtha, David A Harris, Luke M Funk

Surgery for obesity and related diseases : official journal of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery. 2022 March 4.

Dr. Harris studies the mechanistic intersection between bariatric surgery, metabolism, and aging. Using complex surgical models in mice, his current lab efforts focus on how bariatric surgery effects the process of cellular senescence and by doing so, mitigates metabolic diseases and extends healthspan.

Dr. Harris received a one-year pilot grant from Washington University’s Diabetes Research Center to explore potential treatments for Type 2 diabetes. Read more here.

Francis D. Moore Award (2020)
Harvard Medical School Excellence in Teaching Award (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)
Massachusetts Chapter of the ACS Resident Research Award: Best Clinical Presentation (2018)
Association of Academic Surgery Student Research Award (2013)