FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington has named Dr. Dora Anne Mills, a public health leader with longstanding ties to the region, as the commencement speaker for the class of 2026.

Commencement is scheduled for May 9 at 11 a.m. at the Narrow Gauge Outdoor Amphitheater in downtown Farmington, with no tickets required for the outdoor ceremony.

Mills, who will also receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree, has served as Maine’s state health officer and director of the Maine Center for Disease Control for 15 years, and is chief health improvement officer for MaineHealth.

Her work has included leading responses to public health challenges such as the H1N1 pandemic and efforts to reduce teen smoking rates, as well as helping guide MaineHealth’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign.

Mills earned her medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine, completed a residency at Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and holds a Master of Public Health degree from Harvard. She later returned to Farmington to practice pediatrics and continues to live part-time in the area.

During her tenure as state health officer, teen smoking rates fell from about 40% to 14%. She has also developed a model integrating health care, public health and community partners, work that has been documented in the American Journal of Public Health.

Mills is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and has received national and state honors, including the American Medical Association’s Nathan Davis Award for Outstanding Government Service. Her work has also included global health experience in Tanzania and Calcutta.

A Farmington native with multigenerational ties to UMF, Mills has focused her career on integrating health care, public health and community partnerships, particularly in rural settings.