Marilyn MILLER

Biography

Marilyn Miller, Ph.D., M.S. began as Program Director for the Genetics of Alzheimer's Disease, Tau, and Hormone Research portfolios at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in 2000.  As Program Director for the Genetics_of_Alzheimers_Disease, a major component of her portfolio is the the Alzheimer’s Disease Sequencing Project (ADSP).  The ADSP is an initiative launched in 2012 to fight Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Related Dementias (AD/RD). The Project emphasizes generation and analysis of sequence and genomic data from large AD cohorts with a major emphasis on diversity sample sets with a global reach. The ADSP includes major AD genetics consortia in the US with participants in Africa, Central and South America, India, Korea, and Australia. A large multi-ethnic family-based study is an essential component of the Project. A Functional Genomics initiative, and a Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence initiative are recent ADSP initiatives in the portfolio. A major initiative, the Phenotype Harmonization Consortium, was launched in 2021 to perpetually curate, harmonize, and share with the research community clinical/ phenotypic data associated with all of the ADSP cohorts. Also a component of her portfolio, the Genomics Center for Alzheimer’s Disease GCAD harmonizes and quality control checks ADSP genetic data. The NIA Genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease Data Storage Site (NIAGADS) broadly shares these data with the research community.  The National Centralized Cell Repository for Alzheimer’s Disease (NCRAD) and a large scale sequencing center TheAmericanGenome Center at the Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences (USUHS) are essential to the function of the ADSP. Numerous cooperative agreements fund the multiple phases and components of the Project. Dr. Miller is involved in all aspects of the ADSP, including monitoring and assessing progress, coordinating numerous projects, and implementing policies related to data deposition and release of human sequence data, and strategic planning. Before joining NIH, she held joint faculty appointments in the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Experimental Medicine, and Anatomy at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. She received a bachelor’s degree from Marquette University, Milwaukee; a master’s degree in Biology at Loyola University of Chicago; and a Ph.D. in Anatomy from Loyola University of Chicago, Stritch School of Medicine. She did a postdoctoral fellowship in reproductive biology at Case Western University and a sabbatical in endocrine-related molecular biology at the University of Colorado. Dr. Miller has published numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts, reviews, and book chapters and has served on a many NIA and NIH-wide committees.