Dr. Joshua David Milner, MD

Joshua Milner is a leader in the field of discovery and immunopathogenesis of genetic diseases that lead to allergic symptoms and immunologic disorders. Among the diseases has described PLAID—an immune disorder that leads to lifelong cold urticaria, the glycosylation disorder PGM3 deficiency, ERBIN mutation, CARD11 dominant negative mutations, STAT3 gain-of-function, Hereditary Alpha Tryptasemia Syndrome, IL-6 receptor deficiency, and others. His lab coined the term Primary Atopic Disorders, which refer to genetic diseases which cause allergies and allergic inflammation.
Dr. Milner's vision is to establish how genetic variation can help inform diagnosis and care of all patients with allergic and immune-mediated diseases—rare and common, severe and mild. This is achieved by performing genetic sequencing on samples from patients, as well as performing functional studies on the same patient samples, which together help point to specific immune pathways that may be fundamentally causing …disease. This comprehensive analysis, when performed in larger populations, will help personalize medicine so that patients can be better categorized for targeted care. Furthermore, this type of research and care requires a coordinated and comprehensive interdisciplinary approach, taking advantage of the expertise across the department of pediatrics, the CUMC medical center, and beyond.

Dr. Milner graduated with an SB in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1995 and an MD with distinction in immunology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He completed his residency in pediatrics at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC, and, as the recipient of the Pediatric Scientist Development Program Fellowship, did his fellowship in allergy and immunology at NIAID. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the late Dr. William E. Paul, NIAID, examining issues of mouse T-cell receptor repertoires before beginning as an investigator in the Laboratory of Allergic Diseases in the NIAID, where he was eventually named chief. He moved to Columbia University Medical Center in 2019, where he took his current position as Director, Allergy/Immunology and Rheumatology in the Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Milner is an elected member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, and the American Pediatric Society. He is the recipient of the Drukier Prize for Childrens Health Research, the E. Mead Johnson Award for Pediatric Research, the Phadia Allergy Research Forum Award, and several NIH Director’s awards.