Ronald D. Miller, M.D., Honored with Distinguished Service Award

Newswise — Ronald D. Miller, M.D., Professor and Chairman in the Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care and Professor of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco, received the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Distinguished Service Award during the Society's Annual Meeting today.

The ASA Distinguished Service Award is the Society's highest honor, bestowed on an individual for lifetime achievements and service in the specialty and the Society. Nominations for this annual award may be submitted by any ASA member or component society and are then reviewed by the Committee on Distinguished Service Award. The candidate entered into nomination by the committee must receive a two-thirds vote of more than 300 delegates seated in the ASA House of Delegates who represent more than 43,000 ASA members.

Dr. Miller began his anesthesia career with the US Navy in 1968 as a staff anesthesiologist and received that Bronze Star with a combat V for Meritorious Service especially for his massive transfusion research in 1969 while stationed in Da Nang, South Vietnam. Dr. Miller joined the faculty of the University of California, San Francisco as Assistant Professor of Anesthesia and Pharmacology in 1970. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1974 and Professor in 1978, and served as Vice Chairman of the Department of Anesthesia from 1982 to 1984 when he became the Chairman of the Department of Anesthesia.

An ASA member since 1970, Dr. Miller has served on several ASA committees. He recently served as chair of the Task Force on Future Paradigms for Anesthesia Practice, working to determine the best path for the future of the specialty. This year, Dr. Miller will deliver the Emery A. Rovenstine Memorial Lecture at the ASA Annual Meeting on the topic of "The Pursuit of Excellence."

A noted editor and author, Dr. Miller's "Miller's Anesthesia" is regarded as the leading textbook of anesthesia in the world. Dr. Miller was also co-editor with Robert K. Stoelting, M.D., on "Basics of Anesthesia," one of the leading basic anesthesia texts in the United States. Dr. Miller has published over 170 peer review articles and served as editor-in-chief of Anesthesia & Analgesia from 1990 to 2006.

Dr. Miller is a recipient of national and international honors, a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences since 1998, elected and an honorary member of the Dutch Society of Anesthesiology in 1986 and the German Society of Anaesthesia and Critical Care in 2005. He is also a fellow in the Royal College of Anaesthetists of the United Kingdom and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.

In addition Dr. Miller has served as chair of the NIH Surgery, Anesthesia and Trauma Study Section, the FDA Anesthetic and Life Support Drugs Advisory Committee and the FDA Blood and Blood Products Committee.

Dr. Miller is a graduate of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and received his medical degree from Indiana University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in anesthesia and a fellowship in pharmacology concurrently from the University of California, San Francisco, along with a master's degree in pharmacology.