Steve MIles

Steven Miles, MD is recognized for fearless and humanitarian leadership

Congratulations to Steve Miles, MD, for being awarded the 2019 Shotwell Award from the Twin Cities Medical Society Foundation for his fearless leadership as a humanitarian!

From the award program: "Steven H. Miles, MD, is Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Bioethics at the Center for Bioethics, University of Minnesota. He held the Maas Family Endowed Chair in Bioethics from 2011-2017. He served as President of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities and received its Distinguished Service Award and Lifetime Achievement Award. He has published four books, thirty chapters, and more than 200 medical articles on medical ethics, human rights, tropical medicine and end of life care.

In 1981, after serving as Chief Medical Resident at Hennepin County Medical Center, Dr. Miles became the Medical Program Director for the American Refugee Committee and Chief Medical Officer coordinating medical care for 45,000 refugees living in the 23 refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border. Upon returning, Dr. Miles spent four years on staff at the Minneapolis Veterans Administration Medical Center providing comprehensive geriatric evaluation and rehabilitation and hospice care. He then spent three years as Associate Director at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine Center for Clinical Medical Ethics before returning to Minnesota to complete a 35-year career with clinical and academic appointments at Hennepin County Medical Center, Regions Hospital, and the University of Minnesota. In addition, he was a candidate for United States Senate in 1999-2000.

Dr. Miles is known for tackling controversial issues. He participated in the development of the Do Not Resuscitate order and the treatment of tuberculosis in refugee camps. He worked with the failed Clinton healthcare reform and the successful MNsure legislation. He conducted research that largely ended the dangerous use of restraints in nursing homes. He candidly spoke about his mental illness and its prevalence among healthcare providers; his successful lawsuit advanced physicians’ rights to get confidential care of this disability without Board intervention. He exposed medical complicity with torture and has testified in the United States and Africa. In retirement, he has become a Master Gardener with the University’s Extension division and is on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota. He has been married for 38 years.

His colleagues describe him as a good and empathetic listener, a teacher, caregiver, researcher, mentor and, most of all, a humanitarian. It is without hesitation, the Twin Cities Medical Society Foundation, in partnership with the Shotwell Award Selection Committee, honors the outstanding work of Steven Miles, MD with the 2019 Shotwell Award."