Henry I. Miller

Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy
Biography: 

Henry I. Miller, MS, MD, is the Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy and Public Policy at the Hoover Institution. His research focuses on public policy toward science and technology, encompassing a number of areas, including pharmaceutical development, genetic engineering in agriculture, models for regulatory reform, and the emergence of new viral diseases.

Miller served for fifteen years at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a number of posts. He was the medical reviewer for the first genetically engineered drugs to be evaluated by the FDA and thus instrumental in the rapid licensing of human insulin and human growth hormone. Thereafter, he was a special assistant to the FDA commissioner and the founding director of the FDA's Office of Biotechnology. During his government service, Miller participated frequently on various expert and policy panels as a representative of the FDA or the US government. As a government official, Miller received numerous awards and citations.

Since coming to the Hoover Institution, Miller has become well known not only for his contributions to scholarly journals but also for his articles and books that make science, medicine, and technology accessible. His work has been widely published in many languages. Monographs include Policy Controversy in Biotechnology: An Insider's View; To America's Health: A Model for Reform of the Food and Drug Administration; and The Frankenfood Myth: How Protest and Politics Threaten the Biotech Revolution. Barron's selected The Frankenfood Myth as one of the 25 Best Books of 2004. In addition, Miller has published extensively in a wide spectrum of scholarly journals and popular publications worldwide, including The Lancet, Journal of the American Medical Association, Science, the Nature family of journals, Chronicle of Higher Education, Forbes, National Review, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Guardian, Defining Ideas, and the Financial Times. He is a regulator contributor to Forbes.com and frequently appears on the nationally syndicated radio programs of John Batchelor and Lars Larson.

Miller was selected by the editors of Nature Biotechnology as one of the people who had made the "most significant contributions" to biotechnology during the previous decade. He serves on numerous editorial boards.

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Recent Commentary

Analysis and Commentary

Henry I. Miller: Chipotle's Misplaced Food Priorities

by Henry I. Millervia Investor's Business Daily
Tuesday, December 8, 2015

There's a regular newspaper column that includes items dubbed, "Why Do Bad Things Always Happen to Him?" — implying that unwelcome outcomes often result from flawed judgment rather than bad luck. That fits with what has been happening to restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill.

Analysis and Commentary

That Fishy Stench From The New York Times

by Henry I. Millervia Forbes
Monday, December 7, 2015

For one brief, shining moment, I was beginning to think the New York Times had finally seen the folly of its decades-long vendetta against the use of modern genetic engineering techniques to produce food.

Analysis and Commentary

Breast Implant Woes: Effects Of Flawed Regulation And Bad Journalism Linger After 25 Years

by Henry I. Miller, Jack Fishervia Forbes
Thursday, December 3, 2015

December 10 will mark a quarter century since a landmark in fear-mongering journalism–CBS's Connie Chung’s unnecessarily terrorizing thousands of women with breast implants, not to mention millions more who had other silicone-device exposures.

Analysis and Commentary

How 'Organic' Agriculture Evolved From Marketing Tool To Evil Empire

by Julie Kelly, Henry I. Millervia Forbes
Wednesday, December 2, 2015

The organic products industry has been on a tear for the past decade, with total organic sales by farms in the United States increasing 83% between 2007 and 2012.

In the News

The G.M.O. Debate Turns To Salmon

by Henry I. Millervia The New York Times
Friday, November 27, 2015

I was discouraged to hear of the Food and Drug Administration’s decision to approve the first genetically engineered animal for human consumption — salmon.

Featured

How The Genetically Engineered Salmon Floundered In Regulatory Limbo For 20 Years

by Henry I. Millervia Forbes
Friday, November 20, 2015

The FDA on Thursday approved a genetically engineered salmon that grows faster but is otherwise indistinguishable from its wild cohorts.

Analysis and Commentary

More Competition Can Regulate Drug Prices And Reduce Shortages

by Henry I. Millervia Investor's Business Daily
Friday, November 20, 2015

The results, published in May 2014, were impressive, and the FDA finally approved the drug without fanfare in October 2014. But between 2010 and the approval, more than 150,000 patients died of IPF in the U.S.

Analysis and Commentary

Are Members Of Congress Being Poisoned By Pesticides?

by Henry I. Millervia Forbes
Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Health scares have become big business for activists, attracting adherents and funding.

Analysis and Commentary

Recasting Asilomar's Lessons For Human Germline Editing

by Henry I. Millervia Nature
Friday, November 6, 2015

Next month, the US National Academy of Sciences (Washington, DC, USA) will convene meetings with the aim of providing recommendations for researchers, policymakers and regulatory agencies on when, if ever, germline engineering of human embryos might be permissible.

Featured

Death By Dietary Supplement

by Henry I. Miller, Gilbert Rossvia Forbes
Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Former NBA star and TV reality show participant Lamar Odom was found unresponsive at a Nevada brothel last month. Although he has emerged from the coma, he was very close to becoming yet another statistic in the body count racked up by “herbal supplements.”

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