Joan Miller (ophthalmologist)

Joan Whitten Miller is a Canadian-American ophthalmologist and scientist who has made notable contributions to the treatment and understanding of eye disorders (particularly diseases of the retina).

[1] She received her SB in biology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she also rowed crew for four years, taking 2nd place in the Head of the Charles Regatta in 1978 and 3rd nationally in 1980.

Eye and Ear and Mass General Hospital (in collaboration with QLT PhotoTherapeutics Inc. and Novartis) developed photodynamic therapy (PDT) with verteporfin (Visudyne).

[25] These findings were replicated in a larger study by Lloyd Paul Aiello and George King of Joslin Diabetes Center and Napoleone Ferrara of Genentech.

Miller, Gragoudas, Ferrara, and Adamis also demonstrated that introducing VEGF into normal primate eyes could cause several intraocular vascular disorders, such as retinal ischemia[27] and neovascular glaucoma.

[32] These studies not only reinforced VEGF's key role in ocular pathology, but also provided the scientific foundation for clinical trials of multiple anti-VEGF therapies.

In July 2005, Miller presented data from the Phase III MARINA trial of ranibizumab (Lucentis) at the 23rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS) in Montreal, Canada.

"[37][38] Miller's scholarly contributions include more than 150 original research articles, 20 clinical trial reports (as a member of the investigative team), 40 reviews, and 30 book chapters.