Thomas Grier Miller

Thomas Grier Miller received an A.B. from the University of North Carolina in 1906 and graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1911 and then commenced clinical investigation in the department of medicine, but this was interrupted by the 1st World War where he served in the army as a captain.. He married Sarah Fenner George in 1915; they later divorced, and Miller married Mary Henkel (d. 1975) in 1951. In 1921 he became a fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia

In 1926, Miller founded the Gastro Intestinal Section of the Medical Clinic at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and was chief of the section from 1928 to until his retirement in 1952. From 1913 to 1952, he also held posts in the School of Medicine at the University, becoming professor of clinical medicine in 1934.

Miller published on many areas of medicine, but concentrated mainly on gastroenterology and in 1934 commenced a series of papers with William Osler Abbott and W. G. Carr on intubation and studies of the small intestine which became classics and were made possible by the invention of the double lumen tube. This arose when Abbott was unable to keep a tube with one distended balloon at a fixed point of the duodenum and Miller suggested that a second open tube be tied to the bag to see if this would make sampling easier.

T. Grier Miller was a member and president of many professional organizations including the American Clinical and Climatological Association, American College of Physicians, American Gastroenterological Association, and the Philadelphia County Medical Society. He received the Julius Friedenwald Medal and the Alfred Stengel Memorial Award.