(American Journal of Pathology. 2001;159:775.)
© 2001 American Society for Investigative Pathology
In Memoriam: Gary J. Miller, M.D., Ph.D. (1950–2001)
Lazaro E. Gerschenson
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, Colorado
Gary J. Miller, Professor in
the Department of Pathology at the School of Medicine of the University
of Colorado Health Sciences Center, died suddenly while jogging on the
evening of May 25, 2001. Professor Miller received his undergraduate,
graduate, and medical degrees at the State University of New York,
Buffalo. He began his pathology residency training at Buffalo and
completed his final training in pathology at the University of Colorado
Health Sciences Center. Dr. Miller joined our faculty in 1979, rising
to the rank of tenured professor of pathology in 1993. He
also held a secondary appointment in the Department of Surgery in the
Division of Urology, and was Director of Urologic Cancer Research at
the University of Colorado Cancer Center. He was the Chair of the NIH
Pathology B Study Section and belonged to several medical and research
societies. Dr. Miller was recently elected a member of the prestigious
American Association of University Pathologists and was on the
editorial boards of several distinguished journals.
Professor Miller was recognized as one of the outstanding prostate
cancer researchers in the world and was a brilliant diagnostician in
that area. He described the presence of vitamin D receptors in prostate
cancer cells and their role in growth regulation of that cancer, which
resulted in recent clinical trials using that phenomenon. Recently his
laboratory found that certain HOX genes are inappropriately
expressed in prostatic cancer. He also pioneered the use of
computer-assisted three-dimensional reconstruction to understand the
natural history of prostate cancer and modeling of biopsy techniques.
He was invited to lecture world-wide on prostate cancer, his field of
expertise. Dr. Miller has published over 150 research papers and book
chapters. Dr. Miller will be sorely missed by his family (his wife
Heidi, and sons Jason and Corey) as well as his colleagues and friends.
