Amy E. Millen
PhD
Research Interests
Nutritional epidemiology and age-related chronic disease; age-related eye disease; periodontal disease; vitamin D; diet patterns; oral and gut microbiome
Professional Summary
Amy Millen, PhD, is an associate professor (with tenure) in the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health. She earned her BS in biology from Bucknell University, followed by her PhD in nutritional sciences, with an emphasis in population health, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her primary training is in the field of nutritional epidemiology. After completing her PhD, Millen spent two and a half years at the National Cancer Institute as a Cancer Research Training Award (CRTA) fellow in the Risk Factors Monitoring and Methods Branch. She has worked on a number of diverse research projects that have focused on the role of nutrition in chronic diseases of aging. Many of her publications have focused on the role of nutrition in eye disease (e.g., diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration), periodontal disease and cancer. She has extensive experience with dietary assessment methods and analyzing diet and disease relationships in varied, large-population datasets. Recently her work has expanded to incorporate the study of associations between diet and the oral microbiome and studying the interplay between the diet, the metabolome and the gut microbiome in age-related eye disease.
Education
- PhD, nutritional sciences, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2002
- BS, biology, magna cum laude, Bucknell University, 1996
Training
- Postdoctoral fellow, Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, University at Buffalo, 2005-2007
- Postdoctoral fellow, Cancer Research Training Award, Risk Factors Monitoring and Methods Branch, National Cancer Institute, 2002-2004
Professional Affiliations
- American Society for Nutritional Sciences
- American Society for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology
- Society for Epidemiologic Research
Highlighted Honors, Awards/Other Significant Contributions
- 2025: Excellence in Nutrition Fellow of the American Society for Nutrition (FASN)
- 2021: Induction into the Delta Omega Honor Society
- 2012: Outstanding Junior Researcher, School of Public Health and Health Professions, University at Buffalo
- 2005: Dannon Institute® Nutrition Leadership Institute, Queenstown, MD, June 4-9, 2005
- 1997–2002: National Institutes of Health Pre-doctoral Training Grant in Nutritional Sciences
- 1996: Frost Scholar Award for PhD Studies
- 1996: Phi Beta Kappa
- 1996: Bucknell University, President’s Award for Academic Achievement