PICS Alumni Spotlight: “Whelton Miller”

Dr. Miller received a B.S. in Biochemistry from University of Delaware in 2001 where he worked under the supervision of Dr. Douglass F. Taber. After graduation, he took a job working in industry as a synthetic organic chemist for a pharmaceutical company. After over 3 years of industrial experience, he returned to school to complete a Ph.D. in Theoretical/Computational Chemistry from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia in 2012. After graduate school, he was given a unique opportunity through the University of Pennsylvania’s (Penn) – Postdoctoral Opportunities in Research and Teaching (PENN-PORT) program, an NIH sponsored, Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) postdoctoral fellowship. In addition to Dr. Miller’s responsibilities through the Penn-PORT program, he served on the Biomedical Postdoctoral Council (BPC), as well as chair of the Engineering PostDoc Association (EpoD). He has worked closely with the Physician Scientist Training Program (PSTP) as a mentor to a high school student, as well as a program guest speaker. This allowed Dr. Miller to be a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Bioengineering at Penn, as well as serve as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Lincoln University. After accepting a position at Lincoln University as an Assistant Professor, as well as an Adjunct Assistant Professor position at Penn, he has recently moved on to Loyola University Chicago this past summer (2019). Dr. Miller continues to work on collaborative research projects and include colleagues at Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, University of Pennsylvania, and University of the Sciences. Dr. Miller’s current research involves using computational chemistry techniques for theoretical design and study of organometallic and inorganic compounds, protein ligand interactions, and structural electronic effects. Dr. Miller is always looking forward to more opportunities for minority student development and enrichment in the STEM-related disciplines.