Symposium to Highlight Research, Education, and Practice

CSU Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care is delighted to announce that Jeri Miller, PhD, MS, MSc, will be speaking at the 2022 National Symposium for Academic Palliative Care Education and Research, February 17–18, in San Diego. Back by popular demand, Dr. Miller is the chief of the Office of End-of-Life Research and Palliative Care Research (OEPCR), at the National Institute for Nursing Research (NINR), National Institutes of Health (NIH). OEPCR coordinates and supports ongoing NINR and NIH research efforts in end-of-life and palliative care (EOL PC) science, including:

• Stimulation of end-of-life and palliative care research initiatives
• Creation of opportunities for collaborative activities
• Facilitation of interdisciplinary EOL PC science
• Identification of opportunities for science to inform policy and practice.

At the symposium, Dr. Miller will discuss the need for integrated, comprehensive palliative care research that informs clinical practice, guides evidence-based training and education of scholars and practitioners at all levels, and ensures optimal end-of-life and palliative care for everyone, everywhere. Dr. Miller will offer a plenary presentation and one-on-one “office hours” meetings with attendees to discuss their research ideas, grant writing skills, funding opportunities, and questions around palliative care research.

Dr. Miller’s experience at NIH during the pandemic has heightened her awareness of the “need for innovative interventions that address long-standing barriers to palliative care for all populations, the importance of communication during serious illness, and the existing gaps in resources, cultural competency, and health equity. We cannot overlook the impact of the pandemic on our hospice and palliative care providers, our educators, and our researchers. COVID-19 provided critical lessons that we must address to prepare for the inevitably of future pandemics.”

An Experienced Researcher, Analyst, Leader, Speaker, and Author

Dr. Miller completed her NIH post-doctoral IRTA fellowship through the NIH Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development with a cross-appointment at the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center.

She continued as an NIH intramural scientist within the NIH Clinical Center where she was the principal investigator of numerous NIH research protocols. She spearheaded research collaborations and research training and mentorship with the then-National Naval Medical Center–Department of the Navy and various academic centers.

Later, Dr. Miller was the head of the Office of Research on End-of-Life Science and Palliative Care Investigator Training, and Education and Science Policy in NINR’s Division of Science Policy and Public Liaison. She has expanded this role in OEPCR as both chief and senior science policy analyst.

Attendees of our 2018 symposium will remember Dr. Miller as an entertaining and informative speaker. Dr. Miller is also an author with numerous awards and honors for her research at NIH and for her leadership at NINR. She received the National Institute of Nursing Research’s Team Award for the development and operationalization of the NINR end-of-life and palliative care science program and received the 2018 Presidential Citation from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine for her work in building national programs of science in palliative car and will receive the 2022 HPNA Presidential Citation at the Annual Assembly in February.

She is a member and consultant to numerous federal and national advisory groups and technical panels, including past Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) technical reviews of palliative care research. She serves on a variety of NIH and national committees that focus on the care for persons and families faced with the challenges of advanced illness, including the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Quality Care for People With Serious Illness.

In addition to her administrative roles, Dr. Miller oversees the NINR Centers program, the NINR Palliative Care Research Cooperative (PCRC) group and is the NIH scientific officer of several large multisite pragmatic trials through the NIH Health Care Systems Research Collaboratory. Dr. Miller was a previous clinician as well as administrator of programs within the Ontario Ministry of Health in Canada.