Patricia Millner - USDA-ARS-NEA-BARC-Environmental Microbial and Food Safety Lab

Dr. Millner is a Research Microbiologist at the USDA, ARS, Henry A. Wallace Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, where she conducts research on: 1) environmental and crop production factors and management practices that reduce survival and dissemination of zoonotic and crop pathogens into fresh market (organic and conventional) produce farming and market supply chain; 2) novel treatment technologies to destroy zoonotic pathogens in agricultural systems, including biological soil amendments of animal origin and recycled organic residuals; 3) innovative technologies to improve preventive controls in post-harvest wash processing of fresh fruits and vegetables; 4) development of novel devices and technologies for detecting bacteria, validating preventive controls used in sanitization and disinfection processes of food, feed, and residuals. She has provided consultations on treatment and pathogen destruction technologies for numerous State and Federal agencies including US EPA; US Dept of Interior; Architect of the Capitol, National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health, International Atomic Energy Commission, USAID, New Zealand District Council, Wellington; and USDA’s: Office of Operations, Agricultural Marketing Service, National Organic Standards Board, Foreign Agriculture Service, Animal Plant Health Inspection Service, Office of Risk Assessment Cost-Benefit Analyses, and US Congress, House of Representatives. Dr. Millner used innovative approaches to solve problems on a broad range of environmental, crop production, and product processing issues. Her seminal study on bioaerosols and their dispersal from compost sites, has been used extensively by state and local governing authorities in the USA and international consulting and regulatory authorities to establish regulations and permit standards for compost sites. Dr. Millner’s insightful design of experiments on cotton dust bioaerosols while she was lead USDA microbiologist for the Interagency Cotton Dust Task Force resulted in significant, critical advances in understanding cotton dust microbiology as related to endotoxin detection/detoxification. Her research on suppression of root diseases of vegetables and strawberries remains as the primary series of data documenting biocontrol effects of field use of compost. She devised a novel compost delivery/formulation system adopted by strawberry, tomato, and ornamental growers and led to commercially marketed GroSoxx. As lead microbiologist on the ARS team, Dr. Millner showed that a multistage manure treatment system reliably disinfects manure and is environmentally superior to lagoons. In a series of fresh-cut lettuce-washing studies with major fresh produce industry cooperators, Dr. Millner’s research advances have resulted in improved technologies to reduce food safety risks from pathogen cross-contamination. Working cooperatively with extension agents and university researchers, Dr. Millner has linked food safety research to concerns about use of raw manure and soil health to inform risk assessments of survival and transfer of non-pathogenic (environmental and soil) E. coli and attenuated E. coli O157H7 after application of untreated manure. These data have strengthened scientific decision support for FDA and FDA’s risk assessment of raw manure use requirements with fresh produce. A. Educational Background University Training: 1970 B.S. with honors Univ. of Maryland; major, Microbiology 1975 M.S., Univ. of Maryland; major, Botany; 1984 Ph.D., Univ. of Maryland; major, Marine, Estuarine, Environmental Sciences B. Research Experience (USDA-ARS, Beltsville, Maryland): 1969-70, Biological Aid, National Fungus Collections, Mycology, Plant Protection Institute. 1970-78, Research Assistant (Microbiology), National Fungus Collections, Mycology. 1978-91, Research Microbiologist, Biological Waste Management Laboratory 1991-2001, Research Leader, Soil-Microbial Systems Lab, Natural Resources Institute 2001- 2021, Research Microbiologist, Environmental Microbial Food Safety Laboratory (60%) and Sustainable Agricultural Systems Laboratory (40%), Beltsville, MD. C. Professional Society Memberships: International Association of Food Protection D. HONORS AND AWARDS 1977 USDA Superior Service Award, Sewage Sludge Land Utilization Research Group "outstanding team effort and response to an urgent national need for research information on safe and beneficial use of sewage sludge on agricultural land." 2000 Rufus Chaney award for Composting Research, US Composting Council. 2000 USDA Superior Service Award, Sustainable Agricultural Research, Mid-Atlantic Region 2009 Southeast Region and National Awards of Excellence, Technology Development & Transfer, and National Federal Laboratory Consortium Award (USDA): Second Generation Environmentally Superior Technology for Treatment of Swine Manure in the USA 2009 USDA Distinguished Technology Transfer Team Award 2019 US PTO, System for Cleaning Fresh and Fresh-Cut Produce 10,285,411 B2 2019 USPTO, Microfluidic Mixer and Method for Determining Pathogen Inactivation via Antimicrobial Solutions 10,233,482 2020 USDA-ARS-Annual Agency Award for Outreach, Diversity and Equal Opportunity 2020 Southeast Federal Laboratory Consortium Award for Excellence in Technology Transfer and 2021 National Federal Laboratory Consortium Award (USDA): Recovery of Ammonia from Waste Using Gas-Permeable Membranes