Pam Harris

Pam Harris fondly remembers her first job as a kid working as clerk and “soda jerk” at her hometown pharmacy in Madison, Kan. But it wasn’t the ice cream and soda that captured her attention — she spent hours reading the prescription bottles. Since age 10, Pam knew she wanted to be a doctor.

Pam found Old Mission when she moved to Kansas City to attend medical school, and it was during a Bible study at the church that she felt the call to explore ministry as an extension of her medical career. She started seminary training while working part-time as the chief of rehabilitation at the Kansas City VA Medical Center and was ordained in 2006.

Today at Old Mission Pam serves as a staff liaison for health and mission ministries, for instance, she is currently investigating a mission trip to Africa for 2009.

Pam also serves the Kansas East Conference of the United Methodist Church as a representative of the Kansas Area Healthy Lifestyles Committee, a group that hopes to help clergy and their congregations to become healthier. “We emphasize total health — body, mind and spirit — and believe that congregations should be a place to help all of us become healthy,” she says.

Outside the walls of Old Mission, Pam spends her days as a medical director for Kansas City Hospice as a “physician who makes house calls” — she sees patients in their homes and works to keep them comfortable.

More fun facts about Pam:

As a child, what did you want to be when you “grew up”? 

A doctor, since age 10.

For fun I enjoy ...

I like mystery/crime shows and books but rarely take the time to read things that aren’t job related at this point.

Tell us about your family...

I’ve been married to Tom for 20 years; daughter Emily attends KU and Bethany is a sophomore at Shawnee Mission North.