Miller receives award for excellence in post-baccalaureate instruction

Dr. Bill Miller, in St. Petersburg

William C. Miller, MD, PhD, MPH, has been selected to receive a 2009 Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Post-Baccalaureate Instruction.

The award for teaching post-baccalaureate students is one of nine administered by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Office of the Provost to recognize inspirational teaching and mentoring of undergraduate and graduate students by UNC faculty and graduate teaching assistants.

Miller and other honorees were acknowledged during halftime of the Carolina men’s basketball game on Feb. 18 and will receive their awards at a banquet this spring.

Miller is an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the UNC School of Medicine and of epidemiology in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Since joining the faculty in 1997, he has been nominated several times for awards that recognize quality teaching, including the University’s Faculty Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring and the School’s John E. Larsh Jr. Mentorship Award and McGavran Teaching Award. He has advised more than 50 master’s and doctoral students and has served as director or co-director of courses in clinical measurement and evaluation, clinical epidemiology, clinical trials and epidemiology of sexually transmitted infections, among others.

Miller’s students identify him as one of their favorite teachers, and advisees value him as a mentor.

“Bill is very deserving of this important award,” said Andrew Olshan, PhD, chair of the Department of Epidemiology. “He is a truly outstanding teacher, both in the classroom and with mentoring students one-on-one. He enjoys teaching and is passionate about epidemiology, public health and medicine, and that enthusiasm is conveyed to the students and his colleagues. The Department is grateful for his stellar contributions and most proud of this achievement.”

Since 2006, Miller has been director of the Program in Health Care Epidemiology and Clinical Research in the Department of Epidemiology. In addition to his teaching and administration, Miller is board-certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases and attends the infectious disease consult service at UNC Hospitals and Moore Regional Hospital in Pinehurst, N.C.

His research agenda has focused on STIs, HIV infection and epidemiological methods. His most recent journal article, “Perceived Everyday Racism, Residential Segregation, and HIV Testing Among Patients at a Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic,” appeared in the February issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Miller earned a Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology from UNC and a doctor of medicine and doctor of philosophy in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University.

The Distinguished Teaching Award for Excellence in Post-Baccalaureate Instruction was first given by the university in 1995 to recognize the important role of teaching graduate students. A committee selects the recipients based on interviews with deans or department chairs, reading of student evaluations and telephone interviews with randomly selected students, and sends its final recommendations to the chancellor.

UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.