Dr. Miller, a physician with training in internal medicine, medical oncology, and medical ethics, has been the Associate Director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center since the year 2000. Dr Miller has conducted extensive empirical research in injury and violence prevention and is the author of more than 40 articles and book chapters on fatal and non-fatal violent injuries, including homicide, suicide, and other topics. Recent projects include analyses of the relationship between physical illness and suicide among elderly Americans, the connection between recent changes in rates of homicide and suicide among African American youth, the relative risk of suicide and suicidal behavior among users of different classes of antidepressants, the effects of firearm legislation on rates of suicide and homicide, factors influencing public opinion about the inevitability of suicide, and the association between rates of household firearm ownership and rates of violent death.

Current projects include:

1. The relationship between physical illness and suicide
   The key aim of this study is to explore the impact of chronic disease on the likelihood of suicide among elderly individuals. This endeavor also evaluates whether individuals who complete suicide differ from others with similar medical conditions in their patterns of prescription drug use (such as the type of analgesic used for painful medical conditions).
2. The Rise and Fall of African American Suicide in the 1990s
   An evaluation of factors that contributed to the unprecedented rise and fall of African American suicide rates in the 1990s. The variation in suicide rates appears to be driven by variation in rates of firearm (as opposed to non-firearm) suicide – and closely parallels the rise and fall in firearm homicides.
3. Findings from the 2004 National Firearms Survey
   Findings from this nationally representative random digit dial survey include: a descriptive analysis of the way firearm ownership and firearm storage practices in the United States has changed over the past ten years; correlates of parental willingness to ask other parents whether their home contains a firearm; an analysis of whether firearm owners are more likely than individuals who do not own firearms to have suicidal tendencies; and a systematic attempt to analyze public opinion about the inevitability of suicide.
4. Evaluation of firearm legislation
   An analysis of the effect of state level-legislation (child access prevention laws) aimed at reducing unauthorized access to firearms by children on the rate of unintentional firearm deaths among children.

Sc.D Harvard School of Public Health
M.P.H. Harvard School of Public Health
M.D. Yale University School of Medicine
B.S. Yale University