Biosketch for Laurence J. Miller, M.D.
Director for Research and Director of the Cancer Center – Mayo Clinic Arizona  

Laurence J. Miller, M.D. is Professor of Medicine and Biochemistry/Molecular Biology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.  He trained at Thomas Jefferson University School of Medicine and Mayo Graduate School of Medicine, with post-doctoral training in the Department of Cell Biology at Yale University School of Medicine.  His areas of interest include Gastrointestinal Endocrinology, Pancreatology, and Cancer Biology.  His major focus has been on G protein-coupled receptor structure, function, and regulation, including receptor abnormalities that occur in pancreatic cancer.  Dr. Miller’s most novel contributions have utilized photochemical and fluorescent approaches to the molecular basis of ligand-receptor interaction, receptor activation, and receptor regulation, with relevance to the rational design of receptor-active drugs.  He has described the molecular basis of clinical syndromes involving misprocessing of receptor gene products and immune responses to tumors.  He has also become quite interested in the mRNA missplicing that occurs universally in cancer, the mechanism for this to occur, and the utility of the misspliced products for diagnostics, prognostics, targeted imaging, and targeted therapeutics.  Dr. Miller was at Mayo Clinic Rochester from 1974 through 2003, during which time he built and directed the multidisciplinary Pancreatic Group that is now the home of a National Cancer Institute-funded Pancreatic Cancer Specialized Program in Research Excellence, and where he was responsible for developing the Molecular Medicine Program.  He moved to Mayo Clinic Arizona in 2003 to build and direct the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center activities there, as well as to manage and build research activities on that campus.  He currently serves on the Executive Board of Mayo Clinic Arizona. He has been active as the Co-chair of the Cancer Platform in the Arizona Biosciences Roadmap, and has been responsible for building cross-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary activities and collaborations relevant to this discipline.  He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, and was recently the President of the American Pancreatic Association.  He has been the Principal Investigator of individual NIH grants active since 1983, and currently holds an NIH Merit Award.