Dr. Marilyn Miller, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, was awarded the Howe Medal by the American Ophthalmology Society, the specialty's premier professional society.

The Howe Medal is awarded for long years of devotion to the science of ophthalmology. First awarded in 1922, the award denotes distinguished service to ophthalmology and has had only 75 recipients.

In addition to her clinical and research work in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus at UIC, where she was the first woman head of ophthalmology, Miller's research interests have taken her far afield. Her research in congenital anomalies and teratogens, drugs that cause abnormal fetal development, led her to Sweden, where she was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Gutenberg. Her studies currently take her to South America, where she is studying the effects of a drug called misoprostol that can cause anomalies in the eye.

Miller has also been involved in international humanitarian work. She has visited a clinic in Nigeria every year for over 25 years, after having been invited there during her residency at UIC by the then chairman of ophthalmology, Dr. James McDonald, who was involved in founding the clinic. In the first years, Miller said, they would see and treat patients, but as medical resources in that country have improved, most of their time is now spent teaching and lecturing.

Miller has been the recipient of many grants and has written numerous papers on eye movement disorders and ocular malformations. Her work has taken her to projects in Italy and India, in addition to her research in Sweden, South America, and the U.S.

She has served on advisory boards including the Advisory Committee of the World Health Organization, the Medical Advisory Board of the Division of Specialized Care for Children in Illinois, the American Board of Ophthalmology and the Advisory Board of the Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Miller was the first woman president of both the American Society of Ophthalmologists and American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabimus. She was the American Academy of Ophthalmology representative to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness for many years.

Miller is only the third woman to receive the Howe Medal. The first woman to receive the award, Georgiana Dvorak-Theobald, was a graduate of the Illinois College of Physicians & Surgeons (which became the UIC College of Medicine) and spent her career as an ophthalmologist at the university. A native of the Chicago area, Miller is a graduate of Purdue University and obtained her medical degree and clinical training in ophthalmology at UIC. She currently lives in Chicago with her husband, Dr. Ronald Fishman, a retired ophthalmologist. They have seven children between them and eight grandchildren.

The American Ophthalmology Society presented Miller with the award at their 2010 annual meeting.

Source: University of Illinois at Chica