Dr. Doris Miller, native of Sylvester, Ga., recently received the 2023 Public Service & Outreach Awards.

Eight University of Georgia faculty and staff members are being honored for their commitment to public service and outreach.

The Walter Barnard Hill Fellow Award for Distinguished Achievement in Public Service and Outreach is named for Chancellor Walter B. Hill, who led the University of Georgia from 1899 to 1905. Hill was a pioneer who helped define the university’s modern public service and outreach mission. The Hill Fellow recognizes faculty for long-term achievements and special projects that have extraordinary impact, and collaborative efforts that improve quality of life in Georgia. Only past UGA Hill Award winners are eligible to become a Hill Fellow. Each Hill Fellow receives a medallion, a permanent salary increase and $2,000 in discretionary funds per fiscal year for three consecutive years to advance his or her public service work. 

Dr. Doris Miller is professor and associate director of State Governmental Relations for the UGA College of Veterinary Medicine. She has served on that faculty for more than 40 years.

She is nationally recognized as a leader in veterinary diagnostic and forensic pathology, the human-animal bond, and responsible citizenship in regard to companion animal stewardship. She has received the highest recognitions for service from the UGA vet program, the Georgia Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians.

She was the first woman elected to serve as president of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians, where she played a key role in the development of the National Animal Health Laboratory Network, our nation’s vital early warning system and guard against emerging and foreign animal diseases.

It was this program that proved critical to COVID-19 readiness in Georgia and the U.S., where Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratories had to fill gaps in the country’s COVID-19 testing abilities. Not only did they provide critical animal disease diagnostics in Georgia throughout the pandemic, they also provided crucial human testing, conducting over 100,000 human COVID-19 PCR tests.

While her appointment is primarily service-related, with little or no teaching responsibility, Miller has taught forensic science and related subjects to veterinary students, post-DVM graduate students and residents, and undergraduates throughout her career. She has taught in 196 courses in six colleges, schools and institutes at UGA, and is currently teaching in six courses. Since 2015 she has taught a 2-hour workshop for 50 to 60 high school students at UGA’s VETCAMP.

Since 2016 she has led 16 workshops on forensics and animal welfare for professionals throughout Georgia and in other states. As a result, she has trained generations of animal control officers, attorneys and shelter workers in the medical-legal aspects of forensic sciences.

“Dr. Miller helped organize the state-wide training program on Preventing and Prosecuting Animal Cruelty for local law enforcement officers and lawyers, in addition to presenting lectures on these subjects at Animal Law Conferences,” said Dr. Michael J. Topper, past president of the American Veterinary Medical Association. “As these programs continue, it is hoped that the number of successful prosecutions will increase and ultimately lead to a decrease in the number of cases of animal cruelty in the state of Georgia.”

Dr. Miller is  the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Otis Z. Miller, Sr.