FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington is excited to announce that Dr. Dora Anne Mills, MD, MPH, a leader with rural roots and national reach in the world of public health and community well-being, will be the Commencement speaker for the graduating Class of 2026. She will also be receiving a UMF honorary degree of doctor of humane letters.
This year’s UMF Commencement exercises will take place on Saturday, May 9 at 11 a.m. on the grounds of the Narrow Gauge Outdoor Amphitheater behind the Narrow Gauge Cinemas in downtown Farmington near UMF’s Prescott Field.
Dr. Mills grew up on the UMF campus. Her grandmother and great-grandmother were both graduates, where they trained as teachers. That deep, multigenerational connection to UMF continues to shape how she thinks about health, leadership and what it takes to build systems that truly reach everyone
“UMF is honored to have Dr. Dora Anne Mills address our graduates on this milestone day in their academic careers,” said Joseph McDonnell, UMF president. “A longtime champion for improving the health of Mainers, Dr. Mills has worked to lower tobacco use and childhood obesity and prevent and treat chronic health issues. From a pediatric practice in her hometown of Farmington to serving as Maine’s top state health officer, Dr. Mills’ dedication and leadership have served to improve public health in Maine and beyond throughout her career.”
After completing her medical degree at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, residency at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and a master of public health from Harvard, Dr. Mills returned to Farmington to practice pediatrics. To this day, she lives part-time here, grounding the national and statewide work she does across healthcare, public health and community partnerships, serving as the Chief Health Improvement Officer of MaineHealth..
Her career has focused on bridging medicine, public health and the social conditions that shape health long before someone walks into a clinic. For 15 years, she served as Maine’s State Health Officer and Director of Maine CDC, leading responses to complex public health challenges — from a nationally acclaimed H1N1 pandemic response and vaccination campaign to prevention efforts that reduced teen smoking rates from roughly 40% to 14%, one of the steepest drops in the country. Her accomplishments in those years demonstrated that meaningful progress happens when healthcare, public health, education and community organizations align around common goals.
Dr. Mills’ professional journey has taken her from Los Angeles to Tanzania to Calcutta, experiences that continue to shape how she approaches global health, local leadership and equity.
At MaineHealth, Northern New England’s largest health system, Dr. Mills helped lead the health system’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including its vaccination campaign across the region. Throughout that period, she conducted extensive media interviews and maintained a widely followed social media presence, translating complex and rapidly evolving science into clear, trustworthy guidance for the public. In that way, she carried forward something her grandmother and great-grandmother understood well, that education — meeting people where they are and helping them make sense of the world — is among the most important work anyone can do.
Dr. Mills also led health and community partners, work documented in the American Journal of Public Health and contributing to a growing national conversation about how health systems can anchor community well-being, particularly in rural settings.
She collaborates with national and regional partners through speaking, advisory roles, publishing and academic engagement focused on rural health transformation, maternal health, youth public mental health and cross-sector system design. Mills is a pediatrician by training, a public health physician and epidemiologist by vocation and a writer by habit. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and has received numerous national and state honors, including the AMA’s Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service and the McCormack Award from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers as well as the highest awards from various Maine medical and public health organizations.
She believes the future of health in America will be shaped not only in major academic centers, but in rural and regional communities willing to innovate, collaborate and lead as we see right here in western Maine.
No tickets are required for the outdoor ceremony. In the case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be moved to the Dearborn Gymnasium at 163 High St. Final logistics and timing in the event of rain will be shared as the date approaches. Additional information and updates can be found at https://farmington.edu/academics/commencement/.
