Sheldon Miller named scientific director of key National Institutes of Health program

15 August 2002 | Sheldon Miller, professor of vision science and molecular & cell biology at Berkeley, has been appointed Scientific Director for Intramural Research at the National Eye Institute.

Part of the National Institutes of Health, the institute is the federal government’s lead agency for vision research.

In his new position, Miller will oversee high-risk, high-impact research projects that bridge basic and clinical science and lead to therapeutic interventions. Such work involves collaboration with the other Institutes at the Bethesda, Md., campus of the NIH, and with other research programs throughout the country.

Miller will also continue independent laboratory research on the visual system at the institute.

“Dr. Miller has outstanding scientific credentials,” said Paul Sieving, director of the National Eye Institute. “Dr. Miller’s critical administrative experience — through his work with the UC Berkeley faculty — will help to bolster the NEI’s Intramural Research Program and enhance its national prominence.”

Miller says that overseeing the institute’s Intramural Research Program “presents an exceptional professional opportunity and challenge. The Bethes-da campus is an unparalleled national resource that houses a large and interactive community of talented biomedical scientists and clinicians whose research is focused on a wide variety of diseases throughout the body.

“In this unique atmosphere, NEI researchers and clinicians can employ the full range of modern biological and physical sciences to help prevent and treat visual system disorders and diseases that afflict millions of people worldwide,” he said.

Miller’s research at Berkeley focuses on epithelial cells, which line major organs and cavities of the body. He has recently concentrated on epithelial tissues in the eye, breast, and lung.