Associate Professor
C.S. Mott Endowed Professor of Public Health

Dr. Ted R. Miller is a distinguished expert in public health with over 55 years of experience in health and safety economics, epidemiology, planning, policy, and evaluation research. His research interests are broad and share a common element: making a positive difference in the world, empowering advocates, addressing inequities, and moving research to practice to improve the lives of current and future generations.

At Michigan State University, Dr. Miller co-leads the Data and Analytics Workstream for the National Center for Health and Justice Integration for Suicide Prevention (NCHATS). This innovative center, funded by a $15 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, aims to bridge data between criminal justice systems and healthcare to identify individuals at risk of suicide following legal contact and connect them to appropriate treatment. The Data and Analytics Workstream provides expertise in study design, health economics, and data governance to support the center's initiatives.

His economic analyses of health and safety interventions have significantly influenced national policy and provided guidance to federal agencies, including the U.S. Departments of Transportation and Justice, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Dr. Miller is recognized both nationally and internationally for his work on the costs of injury and illness and the savings from prevention, as well as his contributions to abating the opioid crisis. His estimates on costs and Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) associated with injury and violence have been utilized by various U.S. government agencies. His research has been published in numerous papers on injury and alcohol and other drug (AOD) issues in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand.

As a Principal Collaborator on the Global Burden of Disease initiative, Dr. Miller has accumulated more than 250,000 citations throughout his career. He has utilized his cost-effectiveness estimates to evaluate over 170 prevention and treatment measures. He has led more than 250 research studies and authored over 400 journal articles, as well as 70 books, chapters, reports to Congress, and papers in peer-reviewed proceedings. Notably, he has written more than 100 articles related to the Global Burden of Disease and Global Health Financing. According to Google Scholar, 395 of his publications (over 80%) have been cited at least 10 times.

Dr. Miller founded the Children's Safety Network Economics and Insurance Resource Center in 1992. This initiative fostered early collaborations between child safety advocates and the insurance industry, earning recognition with a Nationwide Insurance On Your Side Highway Safety Award. He is a Fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine and has received the Donald F. Huelke Lifetime Membership Award for Excellence. Dr. Miller has also been honored with the Science Award and Distinguished Career Award from the American Public Health Association’s Injury Control and Emergency Health Services Section.

Dr. Miller holds an adjunct appointment at Curtin University in Perth, Australia. His international work includes evaluating preventive health programs in Belgium, Brazil, China, Kenya, Mexico, South Africa, Sweden, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, where he oversaw the design and conduct of large household and school-based health surveys in nine languages. He has been an active member of the International Collaborative Effort on Injury Statistics since its inception in 1992.

Earlier in his career, as a federal employee and later at consulting firms, Dr. Miller analyzed a wide range of issues in health and nutrition, including clinical laboratory capability, food supplements for low-income populations, the economics of preventive health screening, home health programs, hemophilia programs, migrant health, maternal and child health, pollution, and water infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa. He then transitioned to the nonprofit sector, initially at The Urban Institute and later at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation from 1993 to 2025. There, his research concentrated on injury and violence, alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD), maternal and child health, and behavioral health.

Dr. Miller's academic training is deliberately interdisciplinary, with master’s degrees in operations research and city planning, as well as a PhD in regional science (spatial economics) from the University of Pennsylvania. His dissertation became the principal epidemiological and cost analysis supporting the adoption of the national voluntary blood donation system.

Selected Publications:

Hendrie D, Miller TR. Economic evaluation of evidence-based strategies to reduce unhealthy alcohol use: A resource allocation guide, Frontiers in Public Health, article 1466552, 2025.

Miller TR, Weinstock L, Ahmedani B, Carlson N, Sperber K, Cook B, Taxman F, Arias S, Kubiak S, Dearing J, Waehrer G, Barrett J, Hulsey J, Johnson J. Share of U.S. adult suicides in 2019 preceded by recent jail release, JAMA Network Open, 7:5, article e249965, 2024.

Miller TR, N Carlson N. Adverse childhood experiences: Responding to a cross-generational opioid tragedy. In W Wieczorek, M Waller (ed.), Responding to the Opioid Epidemic: A Guide for Public Health Practitioners, Washington DC: APHA Press, 173-184, 2024.

Blincoe L, Miller TR, Wang J, Swedler D, Coughlin T, Lawrence B, Guo F, Klauer S, Dingus T. The Economic and Societal Impact of Motor Vehicle Crashes, 2019,  DOT HS-813-403, Washington, DC: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2023.

Miller TR, Cohen MA, Swedler D, Ali B, Hendrie D. Incidence and costs of personal and property crimes in the United States, 2017, Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, 12:1, 24-54, 2021. 

Miller TR, Swedler D, Lawrence B, Ali B, Rockett I, Carlson N, Leonino J. Incidence and lethality of suicidal overdoses by drug class, JAMA Network Open, 3(3):e200607, 2020.

Miller TR, Waehrer G, Oh D, Boparai S, Walker S, Marques S, Burke-Harris N. Adult health burden and costs in California during 2013 associated with prior adverse childhood experiences, PLOS ONE, 15:1, e0228019, 2020.

Miller TR, Ringwalt C, Grube JW, Paschall MJ, Fisher D, Gordon M. Design and outcome measures for the AB InBev Global Smart Drinking Goals evaluation, Contemporary Clinical Trials Communications, 16, Article 100458, 2019

Miller TR, Lawrence B, Carlson N, Hendrie D, Randall S, Rockett I, Spicer R. Perils of police action: A cautionary tale from US datasets, Injury Prevention, 23:1, 27-32, 2017.

Miller TR. Projected outcomes of Nurse-Family Partnership home visitation during 1996-2013, United States, Prevention Science, 16(6), 755-777, 2015.

Finkelstein E, Corso P, Miller TR, Associates. Incidence and Economic Burden of Injuries in the United States. Oxford University Press: New York, 2006.

CV:
To request a comprehensive CV summarizing Dr. Miller’s achievements, email mill4234@msu.edu.

A new study led by a Michigan State University researcher shows that poverty experienced by women after leaving prison not only limits their choices, but also temporarily reduces their ability to think clearly and solve problems. 

Michigan State University, in collaboration with residents of Flint, Michigan, is spearheading an innovative, community-driven initiative to strengthen the mental health of adolescents in Genesee County.

A team of researchers from Michigan State University and community partners has conducted critical research to address gaps in the treatment of substance use disorder in Michigan’s St. Clair County and the city of Port Huron. This research, culminating in support resources, comes in time for September: National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month.

People in Flint are concerned about elevated cancer rates, particularly multiple myeloma, and possible links to environmental exposures where they live, work, and play. For many in the community, a lack of high-quality reporting on cancer rates in the wake of the Flint water crisis can be highly distressing, worrisome, and frustrating.

Rx Kids, a first-of-its-kind program designed to eliminate poverty and improve health, has passed a major milestone in Michigan: over $10 million in cash prescriptions directly to enrolled moms, babies, and families – and entire communities – since launching in Flint in 2024.

The plug-and-play program has since expanded to the cities of Kalamazoo and Pontiac, and to the eastern Upper Peninsula counties of Chippewa, Schoolcraft, Luce, Alger, and Mackinac with plans to expand to more communities throughout 2025.

Imagine you’re a new mom, sleep-deprived and home alone with your baby. It’s been over a month since you gave birth and you thought you would start to feel better by now: not just physically, but mentally.

Your relationships with your partner, family, and friends have shifted since the baby arrived and you’re not sure who to ask for help. If you needed help, it would be offered, right? The lack of help probably means you should have it covered on your own.

Four dedicated researchers from Michigan State University have received grants totaling more than $3 million from the American Cancer Society, or ACS, to find new ways to prevent, detect, treat and help patients survive colorectal, breast and cervical cancer.   

A new mom in Flint experiences excessive postpartum bleeding, but is told over the phone that she’s probably fine. Later, she is rushed to the emergency room. An expecting mom in rural Northern Michigan starts to feel dizzy and nauseous late in her pregnancy, a warning sign for preeclampsia, but the nearest hospital is two hours away and she doesn’t have transportation.

More than 1,300 babies and families in the city of Flint have received nearly $6 million in cash prescriptions since Rx Kids launched in January 2024. A birthday bash complete with cupcakes, coloring pages, and other birthday fun, was held Jan. 29 at the Flint Children’s Museum for 100 guests.

Researchers from Michigan State University and Rutgers University will lead the first nationally funded study to explore how neighborhood change created by racism in housing affects health across the life course, specifically related to aging. Researchers are starting to understand the links between historical redlining and contemporary health inequities. This work expands on that idea, studying a whole host of factors 'beyond redlining' that have influenced decline and disinvestment in cities. 

In recent years, some states have prioritized purging their voter rolls of those who have passed away or moved out of state. During election season, there is often increased discussion about the necessity and impact of these actions. Voter purging can be an important step for creating election integrity, but others have raised concerns about how the process is conducted and who it targets.