Richard D. Miller, Ph.D.

Research

Dr. Miller carries out investigations and research projects in areas of environmental microbiology and public health.  The area of primary focus is on Legionella pneumophila and Legionnaires’ disease, which Dr. Miller has been studying for nearly 30 years.  His current interests in this organism/disease are in the area of prevention programs and policy guidelines.  He served on the committee that developed the widely recognized 2000 guideline from ASHRAE entitled “ Minimizing the Risk of Legionnaires’ Disease Associated with Building Water Systems”.   He is currently serving on the committee to upgrade this guideline to a standard.  He continues to publish data on the prevalence of Legionella in cooling towers, whirlpool spas, and other building water systems, and the effectiveness of different biocides in controlling Legionella proliferation in cooling towers.

Another area of interest is in the investigation and prevention of nosocomial aspergillosis and other fungal diseases associated with hospital construction.  Risk assessments for fungal diseases in the community associated with water damage is also a major interest.

His most recent interest is in the development of prevention programs for MRSA skin and soft tissue infections among athletes.  A state-of-the-art pilot program has been developed and installed at the University of Georgia football complex, which includes laboratory validation of cleanliness by testing environmental samples for MRSA using both PCR and culture techniques.  Similar MRSA infection control programs are in development at the University of Louisville and other institutions nationwide.

Selected Publications 

Miller, R.D. and D.A. Koebel. 2006. Legionella prevalence in cooling towers: association with specific biocide treatments. ASHRAE Transactions 112 (Part 1): 700-708.

Garcia, M. T., S. Jones, C. Pelaz, R.D. Miller, and Y.A. Abu Kwaik. 2007.  Acanthamoeba polyphaga resuscitates viable non-culturableLegionella pneumophila after disinfection. Environ. Microbiol. 9: 1267-1277.

Carrico, R.L., T. Cross, M. Zahn, R. Miller, S. Weis, J. Carrico, and A.S. LaJoi.  2007.  MRSA among athletes: a comprehensive prevention program.  Am. Public Hlth. Assoc Ann. Mtg,  Washington, D.C.

Borel, N., J. T. Summersgill, S. Mukhopadhyay, R. D. Miller,J. A. Ramirez, and A. Pospischil. 2007. Evidence for persistent Chlamydia pneumoniae infection of human coronary atheromas. Atherosclerosis.

Mukhopadhyay, S., S. A. Jortani, R. Valdes, Jr., C. Q. Simmons, E. D. Sullivan, R. D. Miller, and J. T. Summersgill. 2007. Protein expression analysis of Chlamydia pneumoniae persistence by combined surface-enhanced laser esorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry and two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Clinical Proteomics 2:1