Virginia Miller, PhD

Virginia Miller, PhD, is a Professor of Genetics and of Microbiology and Immunology; she also serves as Associate Dean of Graduate Education and Director of the Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program.  In her role as Associate Dean of Graduate Education she is responsible for overseeing all activities of the Office of Graduate Education and represents the Dean on matters related to graduate education with the university’s Graduate School.  The Office of Graduate Education (OGE) coordinates all the activities of the umbrella admissions and first year graduate (PhD) program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBSP).  The OGE also coordinates a number of other activities related to graduate education via the Science Training and Diversity (STaD) unit including: (1) career and professional development activities for graduate students (TIBBS), (2) science outreach, (3) diversity recruitment and retention, (4) a postbaccalaureate program (PREP), (5) summer research experiences for undergraduates (SOLAR and SURE).

Dr. Miller graduated from Harvard University with her PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in 1985, and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University in 1988. The long-term goals of her research are to understand the bacteria-host interaction at the molecular level to learn how this interaction affects the pathogenesis of infections, and to understand how these pathogens co-ordinate the expression of virulence determinants during an infection. Currently her lab is focusing on studies of Yersinia enterocolitica, Yersinia pestis and Klebsiella pneumoniae. She was a Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences and was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology in 2003.  Dr. Miller serves on the editorial board of many journals, was on the Board of Reviewing Editors for Science (2005-2011), was Senior Editor of Molecular Microbiology, and is currently an Associate Editor for PLoS Pathogens.