Julie Miller
We celebrate Julie Miller on her admission to tenure as Associate Professor of Neuroscience and of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. Julie studies the neurogenetic mechanisms that underlie normal and abnormal motor speech using birdsong as a model. She investigates molecular and cellular pathways underlying vocal disorders associated with natural aging processes and neurological diseases including Parkinson’s Disease. The goal is to promote a better understanding of the brain's role in vocalizations and to develop drug and gene-based therapies that will improve human vocal function.
Julie stepped into research early. She set out as a high school student in Albany, NY to study cytoskeletal proteins relevant to human burn injury. At Wellesley College in the laboratory of Dr. Barbara Beltz, her senior honors research focused on neurogenesis in the developing lobster. Following graduation, Julie became a fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she studied sex differences in molecular pain pathways and behavior and also helped to organize the first NIH conference on Gender and Pain, highlighting research on biological sex differences. Increasingly interested in the interaction between science and the government, she interned in the government division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science where she was responsible for reporting on Congressional hearings on STEM, health, and technology. She missed bench research, however, and returned to the University of Arizona in 1999 to begin her Ph.D. in Neuroscience under Dr. Richard Levine; her research characterized hormonal activation of locomotor circuits in the insect Manduca sexta. Her postdoctoral training began in 2005 with Dr. Stephanie White at UCLA. It was there, while using the zebra finch model to investigate genetic brain mechanisms important for vocal behavior, that she developed an interest in examining brain mechanisms underlying voice and speech problems in Parkinson's Disease. In January 2014, Julie returned to the University of Arizona as a faculty member in both Neuroscience and Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences.
Julie has been a superb, exceptionally caring mentor for her students, which was recognized by an Honors College Excellence in Mentoring Award. That excellence is easily seen in the many undergraduate students who have earned authorship on laboratory publications, and both her undergraduates and graduate students have been recognized with awards for outstanding scholarship and mentorship. Her teaching clearly creates real excitement to study the brain and a love for the field. She is a community-minded faculty member whose extensive service to the departments, university, and student clubs has justly earned her enormous respect, especially from women faculty colleagues. Julie is incredibly open and warm, is grounded in self-awareness and respect for balance in her life - including all the little things that bring joy. She perseveres even in the face of enormous challenges, is always willing to help and support others, listens fully, and, most wonderfully, has a bold and ubiquitous laugh that cannot help but make you smile. For all of this, we are grateful she is in our lives as both a friend and colleague!
- Lynne Oland, Anita Koshy, Fiona Bailey, Jamie Edgin, Robin Samlan