Heather Millar

Heather Millar

Heather Millar is an award-winning freelance magazine writer and author with wide-ranging interests including health, science, the environment, geopolitics, technology, parenting, and Asian affairs. She has written for Health, American Baby, Family Circle, and Woman’s Day and has contributed stories to The Atlantic Monthly, Smithsonian, Smithsonian Air & Space, The New York Times, Reader’s Digest, and Wired. She has ghost-written a book on Asian politics and has written four books for young adults.

In July 2010, Millar was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, only three weeks before she and her family were scheduled to move from New York to her hometown of San Francisco. In between packing boxes and scheduling movers, she was plunged into the world of cancer diagnosis and treatment. She completed diagnosis and presurgical testing at New York University and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan and continued her treatment at University of California, San Francisco.

While undergoing surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation treatment, Millar started writing the blog “My Left Breast,” in which she chronicles her personal story and also explores the science, history, and ethics of breast cancer.  

Millar lives with her family in San Francisco. She has been married for 21 years to another journalist and has a daughter and stepdaughter. In her free time, she plays piano, cycles, skis, runs, camps, gardens, prepares elaborate meals and gives dinner parties, and spoils the family pets.

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