A Legacy in Vascular Surgery: Father and Son Reunite at Stanford

When Dr. Sean Harris walked into the operating room as a high schooler, he had no idea that watching his father repair an abdominal aortic aneurysm would set him on a path to becoming a third-generation vascular surgeon.

“I just saw this giant pulsating mass in the belly, and I was like, ‘what the heck is that?’” Sean recalled. “It blew my mind.”

That moment—sneaking out of a volunteer shift in the vascular clinic to join his dad in the OR—was one of many that quietly shaped his journey. This fall, Sean returns to Stanford as a vascular surgeon in the very division where his father, Dr. E. John Harris, Jr., spent decades building a reputation as “the surgeon’s surgeon.”

Three Generations of Vascular Surgeons

Sean’s grandfather was also a vascular surgeon, though Sean never overlapped with him professionally before his passing.

“My dad was a little harder on me—he pushed me into vascular,” John admitted. “I didn’t want to be that dad with Sean. I wanted him to find his own way.”

Still, the pull of the operating room and the stories shared around the dinner table left an impression. Sean remembers listening as his father described patients and families who were grateful after life-saving surgeries. “You could tell how much it meant to him,” Sean said. “That was one of the driving forces for me.”

For John, those conversations were simply part of life. “Our patients are lifelong patients—you form relationships,” he said.

Finding His Own Path

Sean’s journey wasn’t straightforward. He majored in exercise biology at UC Davis—while competing on the varsity track and field team as a pole vaulter. After a compression fracture of his L4 vertebra ended his track career, he joined the waterski and wakeboard team. Between his junior and senior years, he spent a summer at the UC Davis Medical Center vascular clinic, and after graduation conducted research in surgical and medical oncology. He went on to earn a master’s in Medical Sciences at Boston University School of Medicine, then pursued medical training in Ireland. His surgical training included two years of general surgery residency at Stanford followed by five years of vascular surgery residency at Yale.

“I wanted to make sure I wasn’t just going into vascular because my dad or grandfather did,” Sean said. “But I realized I loved the long-term relationships, the complexity, and the fact that vascular surgeons operate from the neck all the way to the feet.”

John watched from a careful distance. “It’s a fine line, just like with residents,” he said. “You have to figure out what they’re good at, reassure them, and help them improve—without pushing too hard. I wanted him to be his own person.”

Side by Side

Father and son’s paths crossed professionally more than once. During Sean’s intern year at Stanford, he was paged into the OR for one of John’s thoraco-abdominal aneurysm repairs. “I just wanted him to see the case,” John said with a smile.

Sean still remembers the moment: “Not many people can say they’ve scrubbed in with their own father. It was amazing.”

A few years later, Sean helped care for a notoriously difficult vascular patient. The man still asks John about his son whenever he comes to the clinic. “That’s kind of fun,” John said.

Coming Home

For Sean, joining Stanford Vascular Surgery now feels less like starting fresh and more like returning to family. He grew up around many of the faculty—sharing Thanksgiving dinner with then-fellow-now-division-chief Dr. Jason Lee, and remembering when colleagues like Dr. Venita Chandra were still in training.

“It feels like coming home,” Sean said. “This division has been such a major part of my dad’s journey, and I’m excited to carry that forward while making my own name.”

John, who recently retired from clinical practice, agrees—but with humility. “I don’t want him living in my shadow,” he said. “He’s his own person. I’ve stepped back so he can shine.”

Lessons for the Next Generation

At his Festschrift, colleagues called John “the surgeon’s surgeon”—a calm, collected presence in the OR who other surgeons turned to in difficult cases. It’s a reputation Sean hopes to carry forward. “One of my attendings called me ‘unflappable,’” Sean said. “That calm composure—I definitely got that from my dad.”

For John, the advice to his son and to all young surgeons is simple: “What we do is a privilege. You have to truly enjoy it to survive all the tragedy we see. If you don’t, you’ll burn out. I’ve just tried to go out of my way not to train people the way I was trained, and I think that’s been my success.”

Now, as Sean joins the Stanford faculty, the Harris family’s vascular surgical legacy continues—not through pressure, but through passion passed naturally from one generation to the next.

“I’m proud that he saw it through,” John said. “And I’m even prouder that our division wanted to hire him.”