Erin Miller graduated from Boston University in 2017 with a B.A. from the department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences. She continued on to receive her Master of Public Health in 2018 from the School of Public Health concentrating in Maternal Child Health. Erin is a 2022 graduate of the NYU Long Island School of Medicine, a new allopathic medical school aimed to rear physicians who are leaders in primary care and health systems science. She is a resident in Obstetrics and Gynecology at NYU Langone – Long Island Hospital in Mineola, NY.
“My passion for Holocaust studies, largely fueled by my fascination with how indifference can lead to genocide, lured me to Boston University (BU) nine years ago. I remember touring Boston University as a high school senior and happening upon the Elie Wiesel Center during my visit. At the time, I did not know how this center would influence my education and shape my future career.
During my freshman year, I met Dr. Michael Grodin, a psychiatrist at BU who combined his interests in medicine, ethics, and the Holocaust into a lifelong career. As an aspiring physician, I was fascinated by how seemingly unrelated interests in medicine and Holocaust studies could be incorporated into a career. I jumped at the opportunity to join his research team. During the summer of my freshman year, I became the senior research assistant for the Project on Medicine, Ethics and the Holocaust. Our research, based in the Elie Wiesel Center for Jewish Studies, historically analyzed the role that ethics and medicine played in both the commitment to and resistance to genocide. Through this work, I explored the unique roles that physicians played during the Holocaust and was exposed to medical ethics and the challenges of medical decision-making. I learned from experts in Holocaust studies and medical ethics all over the world, lectured nationally, traveled across Europe visiting Holocaust memorial sites and published book chapters and journal articles. These formative experiences in my early education furthered my interest in medicine and completely altered how I understood the medical profession. They also ignited my passion for public health and, ultimately, reproductive justice.
While the Elie Wiesel Center gave me a gift in research exploration, it also gave me the opportunities to explore other areas of Jewish Studies. During my freshman year, I took Professor Michael Zank’s course on The Bible, which explored the text from a historical lens, unraveling how the western religions connect through its origin. This course opened my eyes to how biblical texts can be used to unveil the history within. I was fortunate enough to have taken this course right before my Birthright trip with Boston University Hillel in 2013. During my time in Israel, Professor Zank, who happened to be traveling in Israel himself, taught a lecture in the old city of Jerusalem literally bringing to life the content we learned that semester in the classroom. It is a memory I hold as one of my most formative at BU. Nine years later, I returned to Israel with Boston University Hillel as a staff member this past summer. As I toured the old city with many current BU freshman, I recalled Professor Zank’s lecture as if it was yesterday. The dedication to teaching that the Elie Wiesel Center faculty exhibit is unparalleled to anything I have experienced since my time there.
While my career these days as an OB/GYN intern focuses mostly on meticulous details like medication doses and proper surgical technique, I still utilize the tools that the Elie Wiesel Center taught me. Studying the humanities as a physician is paramount to understanding how medical treatment fits into the larger context of protecting human life. My Jewish bioethics training has taught me to question the medical hierarchy and to never accept the “status quo” as the answer to why we do things. Studying biblical history and Talmud and honing my skills in reading comprehension have enhanced my ability to scrutinize medical literature, while igniting my interest to continue learning outside of my field. Every time I return to Boston, I try to visit Boston University and always find myself returning to the Elie Wiesel Center. It was my home for my five years at BU and it served as my foundation by which I have built my education and my career.” – Erin Miller