Aaron Miller, assistant professor of epidemiology, has been named the recipient of the 2018 College of Public Health New Faculty Research Award. This award was established by the college to assist newly appointed or junior faculty in collecting preliminary data or pilot studies leading to larger projects. The awards are based on scientific merit, including originality; relevance to the UI public health mission; and likelihood of subsequent extramural funding.

Miller’s interests focus on large data analysis and, primarily, infectious diseases, but his work also includes an interest in infections related to injection drug use.  Miller’s project, “Identifying opportunities to diagnose injection drug use and prevent future drug-related harms using an observational-data-driven approach,” will examine Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) data to model delays in severe infection diagnoses (e.g., endocarditis, an infection of the inner lining of the heart chambers and heart valves) related to injection drug use.