About

Kimberly S Miller, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine. She serves as an Attending Pediatric Psychologist in the Division of Rheumatology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and is the Associate Director of the Psychology Internship Training Program within the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Her clinical expertise focuses on pain and somatic disorders, and her research involves pediatric amplified musculoskeletal pain syndrome, juvenile fibromyalgia, and related neurocognitive and psychological factors. Dr. Miller has contributed to understanding neurocognitive impairment, suicidality risk, and resilience in youth with chronic pain conditions, and she has been involved in developing and evaluating interventions such as yoga and cognitive-behavioral therapy for adolescents with chronic pain.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Materials science
• Anatomy
• Biomedical engineering
• Internal medicine

Selected publications

• Spectral photoacoustic imaging of age-related reproductive tract collagen changes in a mouse model of prolapse

  Photoacoustics · 2026-02-12 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Monitoring collagen may help physicians assess female reproductive health, since altered collagen with age is an established risk factor for female reproductive disorders including pelvic organ prolapse. Currently, quantifying collagen in soft tissues requires a biopsy, exposing patients to unnecessary risk with unavoidable site bias. We are developing ultrasound-guided spectral photoacoustic imaging methods to estimate reproductive tract collagen in a Fibulin-5 knock out mouse model of prolapse. For mice younger than one year old, collagen concentration in the external cervical os correlated strongly with age in normal mice (R 2 = 0.701, p = 9.54e-3) but not in prolapsed mice (R 2 = 0.340, p = 1.29e-1). Mice aged 4-8 months suffering from prolapse had significantly less collagen in the external cervical os (p = 2.99e-2). Spectral photoacoustic imaging is a potential non-invasive clinical tool for monitoring changes in reproductive tract collagen.

  PublisherDOI

• Mechanical characterization of the murine reproductive tract during pregnancy and early postpartum recovery

  International Journal of Engineering Science · 2026-05-23

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Instability in Pentanucleotide Markers in a Subset of Microsatellite Instability-High Colorectal Cancer

  Current Oncology · 2026-04-02

  articleOpen access

  Microsatellite instability (MSI) testing is frequently used to screen patients for the early detection of Lynch syndrome, the most common hereditary colorectal cancer syndrome. MSI testing compares microsatellite repeat lengths in tumor DNA with those in matched normal tissue from the same patient. Therefore, precise sample identification is critical for obtaining reliable test results. The Penta-C and Penta-D pentanucleotide markers are widely used for sample identification in MSI testing. We investigated instability, defined as allelic mismatches or shifts, discordant fragment sizes, or the appearance of alleles in tumor DNA that were absent in the corresponding normal DNA, in the Penta-C and Penta-D loci across 2609 paired colorectal tumor and matched normal tissue or blood DNA samples. The allele sizes of both markers did not match in 0.3% of microsatellite-stable (MSS) and 12.3% of microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H) patients (p < 0.001, difference in proportions, 12.0% (95% CI, 8.9–15.1%)). Non-matching allele sizes in 12.3% of the MSI-H tumors suggest that other repeat markers may also be unstable and not suitable for sample identification in these tumors.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sexual dimorphism in the downregulation of extracellular matrix genes contributes to aortic stiffness in female mice

  American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology · 2025-01-28 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access

  FCG mice model can segregate vascular phenotypes by sex hormones, sex chromosomes, and their interaction. We show increased aortic stiffening in XX versus XY female mice and decreased ECM genes, suggesting decreased distensibility and impaired mechanotransduction in XXF versus XYF mice aortas. Therefore, the XX versus XY differences imply a unique role for sex chromosomes in regulating aortic integrity and ECM genes in female mice.

  PublisherDOI

• Biomechanical and Compositional Changes in the Murine Uterus with Age

  Annals of Biomedical Engineering · 2025-03-24 · 3 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Vaginal biomechanical function in premenopausal and postmenopausal women with and without pelvic organ prolapse

  Scientific Reports · 2025-07-25

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The vagina plays a vital role in childbirth, and compromised vaginal mechanical integrity can lead to pelvic organ prolapse (POP). Animal studies highlight the biaxial mechanical response of pelvic organs, however, it has not yet been assessed in the human vagina with POP. Therefore, the objective of this study was to quantify the biaxial biomechanical properties of vaginal tissue in pre-and postmenopausal women across POP stages. In postmenopausal patients, circumferential toe-region modulus decreased in POP-III compared to POP-II (p = 0.041), and longitudinal toe-region modulus decreased in POP-III compared to non-POP and POP-II (p = 0.026 and 0.031). Conversely, no statistically significant changes were observed in premenopausal patients across POP stages. Directional differences in vaginal modulus were evident in premenopausal non-POP and POP-II (p = 0.006 and 0.001) but were absent in POP-III and postmenopausal groups. These findings suggested that POP impacts vaginal biomechanics differently in pre-and postmenopausal women, likely reflecting distinct underlying processes. Additionally, a preliminary study using non-destructive 3D microscopy demonstrated the potential for whole-tissue microstructure quantification of the vagina. Further investigation into the microstructural changes of vaginal tissue is essential to better understand these differences and guide the development of targeted interventions for POP.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Biomechanical Function of the Murine Cervix with Elastic Fiber Deficiency

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• 2023 Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference Student Paper Competition

  Journal of Biomechanical Engineering · 2024-05-30

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The Student Paper Competition (SPC) was held at the 2023 Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference (SB3C). As in past years, there are three competition levels: Ph.D., M.S., and B.S. levels, with more than 300 abstracts submitted across all competitions. To ensure fair assessment of student work, each competition level is separated into multiple technical areas. The Ph.D.-level competition consisted of 36 finalist presentations within six in-person podium presentations. The M.S. and B.S.-level competitions featured in-person poster sessions. The top student presentations in each competition level received cash prizes.The 2023 ASME-BED/SB3C Student Paper Competition Committee, composed by Drs. Kristin S. Miller (SPC Chair), Megan Killian (Ph.D.-level SPC Chair), Mariana Kersh (M.S.-level SPC Chair), and Mary Kathryn Sewell-Loftin (B.S.-level SPC Chair), would like to acknowledge and thank all of the participating students, their co-authors, their institutions, and the effort of ∼200 anonymous persons from the ASME-BED/SB3C community who served as in-person judges and abstract reviewers for the competitions. Furthermore, we would like to acknowledge sponsorship from the SB3C Foundation and NSF supporting the SPC. The support of our community and sponsors is imperative to the success of the Student Paper Competition and the ability to showcase the high-quality research from our students and community. This special issue features invited papers chosen from the winners of the Ph.D.-level of the Student Paper Competition, as well as the ASME Medal winner papers.We would like to recognize and congratulate the following awardees from the 2023 SB3C Student Paper Competition:B.S. Competition WinnersGroup 1First Place: Brandon Chelstrom, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Failure in Articular Cartilage: Finite Element Predictions of Stress, Strain, and Pressure Under Micro-Indentation Inducted Fracture.”Runner-up: Joanna Veres, University of California, Berkeley, “Optimization of Mounting Methods for Tension-Compression Testing of Murine Intervertebral Disc Joints.”Runner-up: Mary Laudon, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Handheld Shear Wave Tensiometer Measurements are Sensitive to Regional Loading in Phantom.”Group 2First Place: Eric Liu, University of British Columbia, “Normal Variation in Frequency- and Time-Domain Resting State EEG Metrics.”Runner-up: Paige Phillips, University of Texas at San Antonio, “Characterization of a Polymeric Device for Localized and Controlled Drug Delivery to Cervical Cancer.”Runner-up: Catalina Bastias, University of Colorado Boulder, “Pregnancy and Age Differentially Affect Mechanically-Induced Collagen Damage in Murine Uterosacral Ligaments.”M.S. Competition WinnersGroup 1First Place: Cyrus J. Darvish, University of Pittsburgh, “Visualizing the Orifice of Visceral Arteries for In Situ Fenestration of AAA Endovascular Stent Grafts.”Runner-up: Collin E. Haese, University of Texas at Austin, “The Role of Annuloplasty Ring Shape and Size on Tricuspid Valve Repair.”Runner-up: Jacob M. Wright, Ichan School of Medicine Mt. Sinai, “A Novel Self-Sealing Dialysis Port.”Group 2First Place: Yin-Yuan Huang, Washington University, “Promotion of Chronic Wound Healing by Aligned Fiber Scaffolds: Modeling and Model Verification.”Runner-up: Emily E. Sharp, University of Pennsylvania. “Click Chemistry-Based Injectable Hydrogel for Repair of the Annulus Fibrosis Following Intervertebral Disc Herniation.”Runner-up: Zachary J. Harbin, Purdue University, “Computational Mechanobiology Model Evaluating Healing of Postoperative Cavities Following Breast-Conserving Surgery.”Ph.D. Competition WinnersMultiscale Biomechanics and Fluid Dynamics/TransportFirst Place: Arjun Narayanan, University of California Berkeley, “Learning Diffeomorphic Deformations for Whole Heart Mesh Generation.”Runner-up: Christie Crandall, Washington University in St. Louis, “Correlations Between Mass Transport, Elastic Fiber Fragmentation, and Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Severity.”Runner-up: Leonardo Geronzi, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Via del Politecnico, “Tuning of the Mechanical Boundary Conditions Parameters for a Patient-Specific Thoracic Aorta Model.”Cardiovascular Mechanics and RemodelingFirst Place: Dillon Williams, University of Minnesota, “Heterogeneity of Red Cell Mechanical Properties Drives Pathophysiology in Sickle Cell Disease.”Runner-up: Shannon Flanary, University of Minnesota, “Multiscale Model Translates Microscale Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Mechanics to Tissue-Scale Aortic Contraction.”Runner-up: Ethan Kwan, University of California San Diego, “Sex Differences in Right Ventricular Chamber Elastance and Stiffness in an Animal Model of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.”Morphogenesis, Maternal/Abdominal HealthFirst Place: Shelby Mohr-Allen, University of Texas at Dallas, “Using Microinjected Fluid Droplets to Locally Perturb Epithelial Mechanics and Branching Morphogenesis in Cultured Embryonic Organs.”Runner-up: Kara Peak, University of Texas at Dallas, “Ectopic Changes in Tissue Stiffness Disrupt Epithelial Buckling and FGF-10-Induced Budding Morphogenesis in Cultured Embryonic Lungs.”Runner-up: Ana I. Vargas, Northeastern University, “Vascular Remodeling During Late-Gestation Pregnancy: An in vitro Assessment of the Murine Thoracic Aorta.”Musculoskeletal and Mechanobiology/Tissue EngineeringFirst Place: Nathan Witt, University of Iowa, “Mechanical Models of Collagen Networks for Understanding Changes in the Failure Properties of Aging Mouse Skin.”Runner-up: Bryan Kwok, Drexel University, “Type V Collagen Plays an Essential Role in the Development of Knee Cartilage and Meniscus.”Runner-up: Yufan Lin, University of California San Diego, “Role of Sex and Sex Hormones in Pulmonary Artery Adventitial Fibroblast Mechanosignaling.”Musculoskeletal BiomechanicsFirst Place: Meghan Kupratis, University of Delaware, “Collagen Crosslinking Dramatically Impairs the Frictional Performance of Articular Cartilage.”Runner-up: Anthony Aggouras, Boston University, “Novel Laser Ablation Model for Studying Local Microdamage Repair in Live Tendon Explants.”Runner-up: Jonathon Blank, University of Wisconsin-Madison, “Shear Strain Stiffening in Ligaments Arises from Unaligned Fibers and is Amplified by Axial Strain.”Emerging Tissue Mechanobiology and Biomechanics IIFirst Place: Louis Gonzales, University of Pittsburgh, “Collective Autologous Chemotaxis in Cancer Cells.”Runner-up: Carly Krull, Washington University in St. Louis, “Nuclear Export Inhibition Jumbles Epithelial-Mesenchymal States and Gives Rise to Migratory Disorder in Healthy Epithelia.”Runner-up: Reece Huff, University of California, Berkeley, “Deep Learning Enables Accurate Estimation of Tissue Deformation in vivo.”

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Collagen organization and structure in <i>FLBN5</i> ^-/- , mice using label-free microscopy: implications for pelvic organ prolapse

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2024-02-01

  preprintOpen access

  Abstract Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a gynecological disorder described by the descent of superior pelvic organs into or out of the vagina as a consequence of disrupted muscles and tissue. A thorough understanding of the etiology of POP is limited by the availability of clinically relevant samples, restricting longitudinal POP studies on soft-tissue biomechanics and structure to POP-induced models such as fibulin-5 knockout ( FBLN5 -/- ) mice. Despite being a principal constituent in the extracellular matrix, little is known about structural perturbations to collagen networks in the FBLN5 -/- mouse cervix. We identify significantly different collagen network populations in normal and prolapsed cervical cross-sections using two label-free, nonlinear microscopy techniques. Collagen in the prolapsed mouse cervix tends to be more isotropic, and displays reduced alignment persistence via 2-D Fourier Transform analysis of images acquired using second harmonic generation microscopy. Furthermore, coherent Raman hyperspectral imaging revealed elevated disorder in the secondary structure of collagen in prolapsed tissues. Our results underscore the need for in situ multimodal monitoring of collagen organization to improve POP predictive capabilities.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Biomechanical and Compositional Changes in the Murine Uterus with Age

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2024-09-30

  preprintOpen accessCorresponding

  Abstract The uterus is a hollow, fibromuscular organ involved in physiologic processes such as menstruation and pregnancy. The content and organization of extracellular matrix constituents such as fibrillar collagen dictates passive (non-contractile) biomechanical tissue function; however, how extracellular matrix composition and biomechanical function change with age in the uterus remains unknown. This study utilizes Raman spectroscopy coupled with biaxial inflation testing to investigate changes in the murine uterus with age (2-3 months, 4-6 months, 10-12 months, and 20-24 months). Linear and toe moduli significantly decreased with reproductive aging (2 to 12 months); however, moduli increased in the oldest age group (20-24 months). The optical signature of combined elastin and collagen content was significantly higher in the oldest group (20-24 month), while the glycogen contribution was the highest in the 2-3 month murine uterus. The presented workflow couples biaxial inflation testing and Raman spectroscopy, representing a critical first step to correlating biomechanics and optical signatures in the aging uterus with the potential for clinical translation. Further, this study may provide critical compositional and structure-function information regarding age-related uterine disorders.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• CAREER: Determining the Dynamic Role of Elastic Fibers in Cervovaginal Adaptations

  NSF · $500k · 2018–2024

• Mentoring Research Excellence in Aging and Regenerative Medicine

  NIH · $44.2M · 2012–2022

• Elastic Fiber Regeneration Potential During Postpartum Healing

  NSF · $284k · 2022–2025

• Elastic Fiber Regeneration Potential During Postpartum Healing

  NSF · $492k · 2020–2023

Frequent coauthors

• Leise R. Knoepp

  Ochsner Medical Center

  16 shared

• Sarah H. Lindsey

  Tulane University

  14 shared

• Louis J. Soslowsky

  University of Pennsylvania

  11 shared

• Gabrielle L. Clark

  Tulane University

  11 shared

• Carolyn L. Bayer

  Tulane University

  11 shared

• Benard O. Ogola

  Augusta University

  11 shared

• Laurephile Desrosiers

  Institute for Female Pelvic Medicine and Reconstructive Surgery

  10 shared

• Shelby E. White

  Tulane University

  10 shared

Labs

• Kimberly S Miller LabPI