J David Miller PhD - The Life and Times of an IEQ Founding Father - It’s Hard to Run Away from Evidence

This week we welcome Dr. David Miller for our first "Founding Fathers of IEQ" shows. Dr. Miller is a Distinguished Research Professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario Canada. He and some others we will talk about have been instrumental in getting Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) recognized as a public health issue. We will learn about his career and how he and others were able to help ensure that IEQ is recognized as a public health issue that has science based guidance from cognizant authorities. When it comes to affecting change Dr. Miller says: “It’s hard to run away from evidence”. 

 

Prof. J. David Miller Dr. Miller received his secondary education at the University of New Brunswick, before studying at the University of Portsmouth in England, where he was also a NATO Science Postdoctoral Fellow. His post-university career at Agriculture Canada, and became head of the Fusarium mycotoxin program. He became a Professor & NSERC Research Chair in fungal toxins and allergens at Carleton University in 2000. In 2020, he was appointed as a Distinguished Research Professor. From 1999-2008, he was a visiting scientist and science advisor at Health Canada in the air health effects division. Among other tasks, Dr. Miller helped to draft the guidelines for mold and dampness published by Health Canada. Over the past several decades, he has co-managed many large studies of housing and health including in First Nations Communities.

 

Dr. Miller has published >350 papers on fungi and fungal toxins and has co-written 10 books on the public health aspects of exposures to fungi, and has several patents. Miller has served on many national and international committees on mold and dampness in the built environment including on the American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology committee that produced practice parameters for environmental allergens. He was chief editor of the American Industrial Hygiene Association “Green Book” (2008, 2020) and “Field Guide” (1996, 2005) that lay out guidelines for addressing mold and dampness in public buildings.

 

Miller is an elected member of the International Academy of Indoor Air Sciences. Among other awards, he received the AgExcellence Award from Agriculture Canada, the Toxicology Forum Scott Award for contributions to toxicology, the Applied Research Award from the Ottawa Life Sciences Council, an AIHA award for contributions to the field of industrial hygiene and the 2017 Award of Merit from the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers Association. In 2013, Miller was elected as a Fellow of the American Industrial Hygiene Association. In 2016, he received the prestigious NSERC Synergy Award for his research partnership with JD Irving, Limited. In 2021, he received the inaugural Philip R. Morey award from the ACGIH for contributions to bioaerosol guidance.

 

LEARN MORE this week on IAQ Radio+.