Elizabeth Miller OBE FMedSci is a British epidemiologist and professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She worked at the Public Health Laboratory Service and Public Health England, researching the safety and effectiveness of new and existing vaccination programmes. Prominent work included investigating the link between MMR vaccine and autism, finding no evidence to support a causal association between these.
Career
editMiller joined the Public Health Laboratory Service as a medical epidemiologist in 1978.[1] Uptake of diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccine had fallen in the United Kingdom, following a 1974 report that linked whole-cell pertussis vaccine to brain damage[1][2] (see Pertussis vaccine § Controversy in the 1970s–1980s). Miller's first role with the Public Health Laboratory Service was working on large safety and efficacy studies of pertussis vaccines.[1] Her work confirmed the safety of the vaccine and contributed to the subsequent increase in acceptance of the vaccine.[1]
Her subsequent career investigated the safety and effectiveness of various vaccines, using methods including clinical trials, records linkage, and mathematical models.[3] She investigated concerns of a potential link between the MMR vaccine and autism,[1] finding no evidence of a causal association between these.[4] She led research that showed multiple childhood vaccinations did not "overload the immune system" or cause an increase in secondary infections.[5] She contributed to a change in policy that led to the use of meningitis C conjugate vaccines in Africa.[3] She has led studies of the effect of vaccination against Covid-19 in the household setting.[6]
She became the Head of the Immunisation Division at the Public Health Laboratory Service[7] and remained in this role when the organisation became Public Health England.[6] After leaving Public Health England, Miller became professor of vaccine epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine[8] and a visiting professor in the School of Public Health at Tel Aviv University.[6]
Miller led the National Vaccine Evaluation Consortium for more than twenty years.[9] She was a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization from 2007 to 2013[10] and a founder member of the WHO Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety.[1]
Honours
editMiller was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2004 New Year's Honours.[11] She was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2011.[3]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f Miller, Elizabeth (16 October 2015). "Controversies and challenges of vaccination: an interview with Elizabeth Miller". BMC Med. 13: 267. doi:10.1186/s12916-015-0508-z. PMC 4608187. PMID 26472230.
- ^ Gangarosa, E.J.; Galazka, A.M.; Wolfe, C.R.; Phillips, L.M.; Miller, E.; Chen, R.T.; Gangarosa, R.E. (31 January 1998). "Impact of anti-vaccine movements on pertussis control: the untold story". Lancet. 351 (9099): 356–361. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(97)04334-1. PMID 9652634. S2CID 35969647.
- ^ a b c "Professor Elizabeth Miller OBE FMedSci". The Academy of Medical Sciences. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ Taylor, Brent; Miller, Elizabeth; Farrington, C. Paddy; Petropoulos, Maria-Christina; Favot-Mayaud, Isabelle; Li, Jun; Waight, Pauline A. (12 June 1999). "Autism and measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine: no epidemiological evidence for a causal association" (PDF). Lancet. 353 (9169): 2026–2029. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(99)01239-8. PMID 10376617. S2CID 8015110.
- ^ "MMR cleared of infection risk". BBC News. 20 February 2003. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ a b c "Elizabeth (Liz) Miller BSc, MBBS, FRCPath, FMedSci" (PDF). Tel Aviv University. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ "Select Committee on Science and Technology Minutes of Evidence". October 2002. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ "Prof Liz Miller". London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ "Key Collaborators". NIHR Health Protection Research Unit in Respiratory Infections. Imperial College London. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ "Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE): SAGE Working Group on maternal and neonatal tetanus elimination and broader tetanus control (October 2015 - February 2017)". World Health Organization. Retrieved 31 October 2023.
- ^ "Medical safety experts honoured". BBC News. BBC. 31 December 2003. Retrieved 31 October 2023.