About Evan Harris

Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon since 1997

Dr Evan Harris was educated at Blue Coat Secondary School, Liverpool. After a year at Harvard High School in North Hollywood, he went to Wadham College, Oxford in 1985 to study physiological sciences (BA), and then medicine at Oxford University Clinical School from where he qualified as a doctor in 1991.

He trained in emergency hospital medicine in Liverpool and at the Oxford Radcliffe Hospital. In 1994 he took up an honorary public health registrar post with the Regional Health Authority. An active trade unionist, Evan was local BMA representative and negotiator from 1992-1994, and was then elected to represent doctors in the Region on the National Council of the BMA.

He was selected to fight Oxford West and Abingdon for the Liberal Democrats in 1994. Following his election in 1997, he was a junior health spokesman, then spokesman on Higher Education and Women's Issues.

• Oxford West and Abingdon General Election Result 2005.

• Oxford West and Abingdon General Election Result 2001.

Following his re-election in 2001 he was appointed the Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Health. He stood down from the Liberal Democrat shadow cabinet in 2003 for personal reasons. He is the Liberal Democrats' Science Spokesman (2005-) and sits on the House of Commons Innovation University Science and Skills Select Committee (2003-) and the Joint Commons/Lords Select Committee on Human Rights (2005-).

Evan has a long-standing campaigning record in anti-racism, refugee rights and civil liberties issues, with a particular focus on free speech, anti-discrimination and the separation of religion and the state. He has a particular interest in medical ethics, previously serving on Oxfordshire Health Authority's Research Ethics Committee, and since 1999 has been an elected member of the British Medical Association's Medical Ethics Committee. He has worked as a trained HIV/AIDS counsellor in Oxford, and is Honorary President of the Liberal Democrat Campaign for Lesbian and Gay Rights (DELGA). He is an honorary associate of the National Secular Society

His interests include squash, bridge and chess. He was born in Sheffield on 21st October 1965