Miller, from Six Nations of the Grand River, the largest First Nations reserve in Canada, worked with the community's local government and was a core member of the team leading its 2020 COVID-19 response. He joined the DrPH's inaugural cohort in 2021, a program aimed at mid-career professionals; a great-grandparent of his was a residential school survivor, and his father worked in management at Toyota Manufacturing Canada while his mother was a nurse.
His dissertation, "Learning from the past, as we look to the future," was accepted as is and praised by Program Director Ted Witek. Miller crossed the stage at Convocation Hall last October in red and black robes, celebrating with Adjunct Professor Anne Wojtak.
Dalla Lana is the first school in Canada to offer a Doctor of Public Health program, making Miller not just its first graduate but the first DrPH graduate at any Canadian university.
Reported from Canada’s first Doctor of Public Health graduate: Zachary Miller makes history at U of T, by Ishani Nath (U of T Alumni News, February 26, 2026).
More from the original reporting: alumni.utoronto.ca/news/canadas-first-doctor-public-health-graduate