Dr. Andrew Miller stands as a preeminent scholar in the field of brain-immune interactions, serving as the William P. Timmie Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine. In addition to his professorship, he holds the distinguished position of Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, demonstrating his leadership within academic medicine. Dr. Miller completed his medical education at the Medical College of Georgia and subsequently undertook psychiatric residency training at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he also completed a fellowship in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. With over three decades of clinical and research experience since becoming board certified in 1985, he has established himself as a foundational figure in the emerging discipline of behavioral immunology.
Dr. Miller's groundbreaking research has fundamentally transformed our understanding of how inflammatory processes influence brain function and behavior, particularly in relation to depression and stress responses. His seminal work has demonstrated that inflammatory cytokines can access the brain and alter the metabolism of critical neurotransmitters including dopamine and glutamate, thereby disrupting neural circuits associated with motivation, reward, and emotional regulation. Notably, Dr. Miller and his research team conducted the pioneering clinical trial that investigated the efficacy of immunotherapy using cytokine antagonists for treating depression, establishing a new therapeutic paradigm for inflammation-related mood disorders. His extensive scholarly output, comprising over 300 publications and the edited volume Depressive Disorders and Immunity, has received significant recognition including being cited as an ISI highly cited researcher, reflecting the substantial impact of his work on both psychiatric and immunological sciences.
As the Director of Psychiatric Oncology at the Winship Cancer Institute and co-Leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Program, Dr. Miller has created important interdisciplinary connections between oncology and psychiatry that address the psychological consequences of cancer treatment. His leadership extends to serving as the psychosocial oncology section editor for the journal Cancer and through his mentorship of numerous researchers in the Emory Psychiatry Clinical Scientist Training Program. Dr. Miller maintains active research programs funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with ongoing investigations examining the role of inflammation in central nervous system mechanisms of anhedonia and psychomotor slowing in depressed patients. His continued work promises to further elucidate the complex relationship between immune activation and mental health, potentially leading to novel therapeutic approaches for patients suffering from both medical illnesses and psychiatric disorders.
