By the time Lila Miller graduated Cornell University in 1977 in pursuit of her dream, she was ready to walk away from it all. Her Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine included more than her fair share of lessons in adversity.
Like so many women and Black people before her, Dr. Lila was deterred from pursuing her passion at all by others who were certain that her success was an impossibility. “There were hardly any women or people of color who were veterinarians [at the time],” she recalls.
When her persistent studies earned her a spot in Cornell, Dr. Lila got an up-close-and-personal look into why. Of the 65 students in Cornell’s veterinary program, only 14 were women, and only one other was Black. Those two women were disparagingly nicknamed “the Black panthers” by a professor, and the only time Dr. Lila can remember being called the n-slur was on campus.
Unfortunate as they were, the external factors were predictable. But there’s only one way to find out you’re deathly allergic to horses. Dr. Lila’s reaction was so severe that she had to be hospitalized, but there’s no skipping the equine section of your veterinary degree, so once again, she had to push through.
It’s enough to bring anyone to their breaking point. So Dr. Lila did what any industrious college student folding under the pressure should do. She paid a visit to the Dean. And was greeted with even more pressure. “He told me, ‘Lila, you’re a guinea pig in this program. If you don’t finish it, they’re not going to let any more Black students in for the foreseeable future,’” she says.
Carrying the weight of her entire race wasn’t fair, but there it was. So instead of dropping out, Dr. Lila just pushed through even faster, graduating as one of the first two Black women ever admitted to Cornell’s program AND a year ahead of her class.
Finally relieved of all that pressure, Dr. Lila found that little had changed. “Cornell was very grueling and when I graduated I was drained and didn’t feel qualified to go into private practice and didn’t want to undergo the rigors of an internship either,” she said. “ In fact, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to be a veterinarian any more.”
Dr. Lila’s mentor happened to be overseeing the New York shelter system, and an invitation to join him while she considered her options suddenly blossomed into her life’s work. “I realized the impact of any improvements I could make would be far greater than I could make for the individual animals I would treat in private practice.”
Within 5 years of joining the NY ASPCA, Dr. Lila had revised old protocols and written new ones that established more humane euthanasia, spay/neuter processes, ongoing animal health care and adoption criteria, and became supervisor of the entire program. In those years, she discovered that the entire national system was in equal disarray. To give you an idea of the scope, before her protocols were written, animals that appeared healthy were treated as such, foregoing vaccinations, blood tests, deworming, and other care that’s now simply a given for animals anticipating forever homes.
Dr. Lila is the reason why. She’s called “The Mother of Shelter Medicine” in veterinary trade circles, because her dedication to improving care for our furry friends combined with the visibility and authority her position at the ASPCA brought led to sweeping changes across shelters and the industry itself nationwide. Before her groundbreaking work, “shelter medicine” didn’t even actually exist. In addition to developing the first ever industry-wide veterinarian-written shelter protocols, Dr. Lila Miller is the co-author of the ONLY three textbooks on the subject, and returned to Cornell to teach the world’s FIRST college curriculum in shelter medicine. She’s an expert in identifying abuse in surrendered animals, and champion of companion animals. In fact, her expertise in that regard has been so critical, she’s the world’s first veterinarian appointed to the human National Board of Medical Examiners. Of course, Dr. Lila’s also on ALL of the veterinary boards you’ve never heard of, and she’s even made another big board. In recognition of her tremendous service, an image of Dr. Lila with one of her charges graced Times Square on Dr. Lila Miller Shelter Medicine Day.
Though she retired in 2019, Dr. Lila is still active in teaching, consulting, chairing, speaking, and of course, inspiring. She’s currently out there in the world lobbying for more changes in veterinary medicine like publicly funded veterinary clinics for ANY client, reducing the financial barriers to studying veterinary medicine, and the inclusion of shelter medicine, anti-cruelty training, and animal behavior into the curriculum of every veterinary college.
When asked what makes a good veterinarian, she responded “A universally compassionate person who doesn’t lose sight of doing what is right for the patient even though it isn’t always possible.”
Of course, when you’re Dr. Lila, impossible is nothing.
KEEP GOING BLACK IN HISTORY:
Cornell University honors their most illustrious veterinary alum in a featurette here.
Gain more insight on Dr. Lila and the full scope of her work in her interview with Small Animal Talk.
Dr. Lila can’t change everything. Though she opened doors for humans and animals, Black veterinarians still struggle in the field. Read their stories at TIME Magazine.
THE AMERICAN BLACKSTORY 