Joan Whitten Miller MD

A graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Miller earned her MD from Harvard Medical School and completed ophthalmology residency and vitreoretinal fellowship at Mass Eye and Ear. She then joined the faculty at Mass Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School (HMS) in 1991. In 2002, Dr. Miller became the first female physician to achieve the rank of Professor of Ophthalmology at HMS, and in 2003, the first woman to serve as Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology. She is also the first woman appointed as Chief of Ophthalmology at both Mass Eye and Ear and Mass General Hospital.

Dr. Miller is an internationally recognized expert on retinal disorders, including age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Over the last two decades, she and her colleagues at Mass Eye and Ear/HMS pioneered the development of photodynamic therapy using verteporfin (Visudyne), the first approved pharmacological therapy able to reduce and slow vision loss in patients with AMD. The group also identified the key role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in ocular neovascularization, leading to the development of anti-VEGF therapies now administered to millions of people with sight-threatening retinal diseases annually around the world. Dr. Miller’s current studies focus on the pathogenesis of AMD, including genomics, metabolomics, imaging, and functional measures; strategies for early intervention in AMD; and neuroprotective therapies for retinal diseases.

Dr. Miller has authored over 280 peer-reviewed articles and more than 95 book chapters, review articles, or editorials. She is on the editorial board for the journals Ophthalmology and Ophthalmology Retina, and an editor of several textbooks, including the 3rd edition (Saunders) and the upcoming 4th edition (Springer) of Albert and Jakobiec’s Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology. Dr. Miller is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, the Academia Ophthalmologica Internationalis, and the Dowling Society, as well as a Gold Fellow of Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO).

Among her numerous honors, Dr. Miller delivered the 2012 Edward Jackson Lecture for the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) and was a co-recipient of the 2014 António Champalimaud Vision Award, the highest distinction in ophthalmology and visual science. In 2015, Dr. Miller became the first woman to receive the Mildred Weisenfeld Award for Excellence in Ophthalmology from ARVO; in 2018, she became the first woman awarded the Charles L. Schepens Award from AAO. Recently, Dr. Miller was awarded the 2018 Lucien Howe Medal from the American Ophthalmological Society and the 2018 Gertrude D. Pyron Award from the American Society of Retinal Specialists.