Joan W. Miller, MD, to Step Down as Chair

It is with a full and grateful heart that I write to let you know that I will step down as Chair of Ophthalmology at Mass Eye and Ear, Mass General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, and Ophthalmologist-in-Chief at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

I have served as department leader for 21 wonderful years, and together we have worked to grow the department, build an inclusive and innovative culture, and advance our research and educational programs. I have always been strongly committed to developing leaders, and I believe that now is the right time to pass the torch to the next generation. A national search will be initiated for my successor, under the leadership of CarolAnn Williams, president, Mass Eye and Ear; David Brown, president, Academic Medical Centers, Mass General Brigham; and George Daley, Dean, Harvard Medical School. During that time, I will remain focused on serving you in my role as Chair. Once the succession is finalized, I will remain in the department as faculty at Mass Eye and Ear, continuing to see patients and focus on research in age-related macular degeneration.

Together we have come so far, and our success as a department is the result of teamwork over two decades. I am so grateful for the help of so many in the department and institutions with whom I have worked, including Harvard Medical School. We have developed an inclusive, collaborative, unified, and innovative department, that supports the professional success of all its members, providing a broad range of work models, resources, and leadership opportunities. Our collaborative culture was aided by the development of our disease-based, Harvard-wide Centers of Excellence and discipline-based Institutes, that engage members across the department in providing best practice in clinical care, transformational research, and innovative educational programs. Our teamwork has been fostered by strong communication, department celebrations and retreats, and our annual and alumni meetings. Some of these collaborations have been formalized, including the joining of Schepens Eye Research Institute with Mass Eye and Ear and the Children’s pediatric ophthalmology service at Mass Eye and Ear. Our success at Mass Eye and Ear led to our joining Mass General Brigham as a tier-one member in 2018. As a member of the Board of Directors at Mass Eye and Ear, I have been blessed with great partners on the executive team and Board, especially our Board chairs and presidents of Mass Eye and Ear.

Clinical growth has been unprecedented, and at Mass Eye and Ear alone, we have grown from 35 physicians in 2003 to 91 physicians and 18 optometrists providing clinical care, with a corresponding tripling of our surgical volume. We have developed new services, including comprehensive ophthalmology and cataract surgery, the first of its kind in an academic department, with faculty devoted to clinical excellence and teaching. We initiated a robust quality and outcomes program, with outcomes published annually since 2010, and are considered national leaders in this work. We have also built on a strong tradition of clinician scientists, with a nationally acclaimed training program supported by the National Eye Institute, and a track record of successful, productive, and innovative faculty.

Ophthalmology faculty have made great research advances in the last two decades. We reinvigorated our efforts in inherited retinal disease, and are global leaders in gene-based therapies for inherited retinal disease, including the first-ever gene-editing approach to retinal disease. We have followed our early success in developing therapies for age-related macular degeneration, with new approaches to better understand the disease and develop early interventions. Our cornea research team is developing innovative treatments for ocular surface diseases, including small molecules, antibodies, stem cell therapies, and new designs of the Boston keratoprosthesis. We continue to be at the forefront of research advances, with the newly created Clinical Data Science Institute paving the way for innovation in big data and AI. Our research has been made possible by the generosity of our wonderful donors, royalty reinvestment, and grants from foundations and federal programs. With that support we have been able to increase the number of endowed HMS Professorships from three to twelve, to create seven Mass Eye and Ear endowed Chairs, and to develop and enrich important research and educational initiatives.

Our educational programs are a collaborative departmental effort, adopting best practices, as well as developing new approaches of our own. Today our ophthalmology residency program is an integrated four-year program, and our resident complement has increased to nine residents per year, with an early introduction to surgery and a state-of-the-art surgical training laboratory. Our fellowships have grown and are nationally recognized and competitive, and our trainee graduates are sought across the country. We instituted a formal mentoring program across the department for trainees and faculty and recognize the contributions of our departmental mentors. We were early developers of programs and resources to support trainees and faculty seeking to combine family life and career, and we serve as an example for others to follow. I am especially proud that we have more women faculty than other ophthalmology departments around the nation, and many women in leadership roles. We have initiated successful programs to support those underrepresented in medicine or disadvantaged, to expose them to ophthalmology and vision research, and improve their ability to enter the field and succeed. Lastly, we developed a department-wide nominations committee for national and international awards, and not surprisingly, our faculty have been very successful, including six faculty elected to the National Academies of Medicine and Science, and three Antonio Champalimaud Vision awards since 2012.

Mass Eye and Ear, Mass General Brigham, and Harvard Ophthalmology have a great history and a bright future. In the last two decades we have joined together to take the department to a whole new level, but of course the work is never done. I believe the celebration is in the journey, and I am grateful and honored to have shared this journey with all of you. Working as a team, no goal is beyond reach. I have great confidence in the future success of our department and community.

With gratitude, 

Joan