The T. Grier Miller Professorship of Medicine in Gastroenterology II

This Professorship was established in 2022, when the value of the endowment of the T. Grier Miller Professorship of Medicine in Gastroenterology had increased sufficiently to support a second professorship. The University’s first professorship in the field of gastroenterology was established in 1977 through the generosity of T. Grier Miller, MD (1886–1981) and with contributions from his friends, colleagues, and grateful patients. 

Dr. Miller, a distinguished alumnus of the Perelman School of Medicine, Class of 1911, received the University’s first fellowship in medicine and remained on staff until he became Professor Emeritus of Medicine in 1953. In 1928, Dr. Miller organized the Gastrointestinal Section in the Department of Medicine and developed the Miller-Abbott Tube, which revolutionized gastrointestinal diagnosis, treatment, and surgery. He served as President of the Board of Trustees of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and was President of the American Gastroenterological Association in 1951. 

Current Chairholder

Ken Cadwell, PhD

Ken Cadwell, PhD, is the T. Grier Miller Professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He is also the Associate Director of Center for Molecular Studies in Digestive and Liver Diseases and the Co-Director of the Gnotobiotics Core Facility.

Following his undergraduate education at Northwestern University where he graduated with honors, he earned his PhD in 2006 from University of California, Berkeley. His postdoctoral research was performed at Washington University School of Medicine from 2007 until 2010 where he was a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Fellow. He then joined the Skirball Institute and Department of Microbiology at NYU School of Medicine where he was the Recanati Family Professor of Microbiology and Associate Director of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research until 2022.

Dr. Cadwell investigates how the immune system is regulated by the diverse infectious agents we encounter throughout life. His research has uncovered principles governing the intricate relationship between microbial colonizers and immune cells of the gastrointestinal tract, which underlies a range of infectious diseases and chronic conditions such as cancer and inflammatory bowel disease. For contributions in this and other research areas related to immunology and microbiology, he has received numerous honors including the ICAAC Young Investigator Award from the American Society of Microbiology, Burroughs Wellcome PATH award, Ann Palmenberg Junior Investigator Award from the American Society of Virology, and Faculty Scholars Award from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.