Current Environment:

Research Overview

Dr. Miller’s patient care focus is on Neurofibromatosis, a genetic condition causing predisposition to developing nervous system tumors. He is the Director of the Multidisciplinary Neurofibromatosis Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, and the Director of an International NF1 Initiative to apply genomic sequencing technologies to better understand the most aggressive NF1-related tumors with the goal of leading to improved treatments. Dr. Miller is also a leader in several national efforts around best practices for clinical genetics and genetic testing, particularly for pediatric neurodevelopmental disorders. He is Chair of the ACMG Professional Practice and Guidelines Committee and is leading a national effort to update clinical practice guidelines for children with Neurofibromatosis Type 1. He Co-Chairs the ACMG Working Group on Secondary Findings Maintenance related to clinical exome sequencing which published an update to the ACMG list in November, 2016. Dr. Miller is also the Chairperson for the Clinical Phenotyping Working Group for ClinGen, an NHGRI-funded effort to build a clinical genomic database for genotype and phenotype information to improve interpretation of genetic test results. Within ClinGen, he is leading efforts to develop MOC credit for ClinGen database curation work, and to improve the uniformity of condition names related to the entries in ClinGen. He is also a Genetics Editor on the Editorial Board for Epilepsia.

Laboratory Projects

Dr. Miller is engaged in collaborative projects related to genetic testing of tumor samples removed from patients with Neurofibromatosis. This work includes exome- and genome-based sequencing of atypical neurofibromas and malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs).

 

Research Background

Dr. Miller received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, completed a residency in Pediatrics at Yale-New Haven Hospital, and residency/fellowship in medical genetics and clinical molecular genetics at Harvard Medical School. He is board-certified in Clinical Genetics and Clinical Molecular Genetics. In addition to being a practicing Medical Geneticist, Dr. Miller has served Boston Children’s Hospital as Assistant Director of the Genetic Diagnostic Laboratory (GDL) for several years, and is now Medical Director at Claritas Genomics (a subsidiary of Boston Children’s Hospital). Dr. Miller is an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and an active contributor to the Human Genetics course at the Medical School. Dr. Miller’s experience as a clinician who orders genetic tests and provides results directly to patients, combined with expertise in developing and performing clinical laboratory diagnostic assays, provides him with a unique and valuable perspective at the interface of genomic technology and clinical care.

Selected Publications

  1. Kalia SS, Adelman K, Bale SJ, Chung WK, Eng C, Evans JP, Herman GE, Hufnagel SB, Klein TE, Korf BR, McKelvey KD, Ormond KE, Richards CS, Vlangos CN, Watson M, Martin CL, Miller DT (2016). Recommendations for reporting of secondary findings in clinical exome and genome sequencing, 2016 update (ACMG SF v2.0): a policy statement of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics. Genet Med. 2016 Nov 17 [Epub ahead of print].
  2. Olson H, Shen Y, Avallone J, et al. (2014). Copy number variation plays an important role in clinical epilepsy. Ann Neurol 75(6):943-58.
  3. Riggs ER, Wain KE, Riethmaier D, Smith-Packard B, Faucett WA, Hoppman N, Thorland EC, Patel VC, Miller DT (2013). Chromosomal Microarray Impacts Clinical Management. Clinical Genetics. 85(2):147-53.
  4. Coulter ME*, Miller DT*, Harris DJ, Hawley P, Sobeih MMS, Irons M (2011). Chromosomal Microarray Testing Influences Medical Management. Genetics in Medicine 13(9): 770-6.
  5. Miller DT, Adam MP, Aradhya S, et al (2010). Consensus statement: chromosomal microarray is a first-tier clinical diagnostic test for individuals with developmental disabilities or congenital anomalies. Am J Hum Genet 86(5):749-64.

Publications