Dr. Mills currently serves as the Vice President for Clinical Affairs and Interim Vice President for Research and Scholarship at the University of New England. She is a Maine native who was raised in Farmington. She received her B.A. from Bowdoin College in 1982, her M.P.H. from Harvard School of Public Health in 1997, and her M.D. from University of Vermont College of Medicine in 1987. She is a board-certified pediatrician. She has practiced medicine in several rural international locations, including Tanzania and Nepal.
She has served as Maine’s State Health Officer, for the administrations of Governors Angus S. King and John E. Baldacci. Some of her priorities as the Director of the Maine CDC include: lowering Maine’s tobacco addiction and obesity rates, addressing environmental health concerns, improving health equity, developing a statewide public health infrastructure, working on health care reform, improve quality of health care and reduce costs, addressing chronic diseases, and reducing Maine’s teen pregnancy, infant and maternal mortality rates through a comprehensive approach to family planning and education.
Among her awards are: American Medical Association’s Dr. Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service; National Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids Award; American Academy of Pediatrics Special Achievement Award; McCormack Award from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers; University of new England Deborah Morton Award, the highest awards by the Maine Public Health Association, the Maine Medical Association, and the Maine Development Foundation; and Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of Maine at Augusta.
