Joan Miller, M.D., receives 2010 Leadership Award for the Advancement of Women Faculty

Joan W. Miller, M.D., the HMS Henry Willard Williams Professor of Ophthalmology and chair of the department of ophthalmology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary and the Massachusetts General Hospital, has been awarded the 2010 Joseph B. Martin Dean's Leadership Award for the Advancement of Women Faculty. Dr. Miller is the sixteenth recipient of this award, which was initiated by Joseph Martin, former HMS dean, in 1998.

"I am delighted that HMS is able to honor Dr. Joan Miller with this important award," says Jeffrey Flier, Dean of Harvard Medical School. "Dr. Miller has shown tremendous leadership in helping advance the careers of women faculty and is truly a role model for our senior faculty in this regard."

Dr. Miller, the first female clinician-scientist to become professor of ophthalmology at HMS, also became the first woman to chair the department in 2003. During her tenure, she has contributed to the recruitment of 17 women faculty to Mass. Eye and Ear and has greatly increased its number of female residents, as well as appointing women to leadership positions in patient-care, teaching, research and administration. In addition, she restructured the maternity leave policy so that the salary impact for those taking leave would be reduced.

Dr. Miller is a founding member of Women in Retina and a member of the advisory board of the Women's Eye Health Task Force.

An internationally recognized expert in the field of macular degeneration, Dr. Miller has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers, 45 book chapters and review articles, is co-editor of Albert and Jakobiec's Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology, and is a named inventor on six U.S. patents. She has received numerous awards, including the Rosenthal Award and Donald J. Gass Medal of the Macula Society, the Retina Research Award from the Club Jules Gonin, the Alcon Research Institute Award, the ARVO/Pfizer Ophthalmic Translational Research Award, and the Founder's Award from the American Society of Retinal Specialists.

The Leadership Award for the Advancement of Women recognizes faculty members committed to the recruitment, retention and advancement of women at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Dental Medicine. In 2007, the Award was renamed the "Joseph B. Martin Dean's Leadership Award for the Advancement of Women" to honor Martin for his long-standing support of the mission it recognizes. Recipients receive a cash prize.

Provided by Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary