Dr. Stanton Miller

Dr. Stanton Miller grew up with six siblings in the city of Granbury, about 70 miles west of Dallas. At the time, a medical career was the furthest thing from his mind.

“Alongside this wonderful family was a whole host of animals including dogs, cats, horses, and Sandy the donkey. When I was in high school, I thought I would work with robots or something, but I cannot be more thankful for where I ended up.”

He ultimately pursued medical education, leading to graduation and receipt of the 2018 Vernie A. Stembridge, M.D., Scholarship Award in Pathology. The UT Southwestern recognition was established by friends and colleagues of Dr. Stembridge, the former Pathology Chair who died in 2000. The $1,500 award is given to the most outstanding graduating medical student whose performance in the sophomore pathology course was exemplary and who is interested in a pathology career.

“I worked with Stan on his Pediatric Surgical Pathology elective and was amazed at his maturity, strong work ethic, and cheerful personality. He immediately made himself part of the interdisciplinary team of the surgical pathology service. Most importantly, he seemed to genuinely enjoy the practice of pathology and to exemplify the qualities – intellectual rigor and devotion to patient care through pathology – that Dr. Vernie Stembridge represented and the award seeks to honor,” said Dr. Charles Timmons, Professor of Pathology and Director of the Department of Pathology’s Resident and Fellow Education.

Dr. Miller said news of his honor filled him with “complete and utter surprise.” That feeling was followed by gratitude to Dr. Timmons. “He has been a fantastic mentor,” Dr. Miller said.

The sophomore pathology course was life-changing, he said.

“As medical students, we don’t get any exposure to pathology until our second year of training. Before that, I had no idea what a pathologist even did. During this year, we had gross pathology sessions in which one lucky/unlucky student explained what they saw in the specimens. 

“It is one thing to read about something like polycystic kidney disease, but another thing entirely when you hold a diseased kidney in your hand and feel the crevices with your fingers. What made the patient sick is right there in front of you. That is what put pathology onto my radar,” he said. After his first surgical pathology rotation, he decided to pursue a career as a pathologist.

Getting to that point followed an academic career that took some twisty turns.

He began at Texas A&M University, majoring in chemical engineering before switching to computer science and then genetics.

“I was good at math, which is why I started as an engineer, but very quickly determined that I had made a mistake. I love computers, so I tried my hand at computer science. However, I also learned that programming was not my forte. Since I was a science fiction nerd, I decided to change my major to genetics.”

As his undergraduate experience approached its end, he shadowed a physician at a neurology clinic back in Granbury.

“Seeing the impact this doctor had on his patients alongside the challenging problems he had to solve pushed me to go into medicine,” he recalled.

Dr. Miller plans to pursue his anatomical pathology and clinical pathology residency at UT Southwestern. Ultimately, he wants a career in surgical pathology, possibly dermatopathology, he said.

First, though, he and Maisie Llewellyn will be married in May 2019.