Cleveland Clinic Appoints Ted Ross, Ph.D., as Global Director of Vaccine Development

Ted Ross, Ph.D., has been appointed Global Director of Vaccine Development at Cleveland Clinic.

In this newly created role, he will lead the development of novel vaccine platforms for a variety of infectious diseases, including influenza, HIV and COVID-19. A highly renowned scientist with expertise in virology, vaccines, immunology and microbiology, Dr. Ross’ research focuses on the design of new vaccines and the implementation of new vaccine trials.

“Ted is one of the preeminent vaccine researchers in the world,” said Serpil Erzurum, M.D., Chief Research and Academic Officer, Cleveland Clinic. “His groundbreaking translational research will accelerate our efforts to develop critically needed new treatments and vaccines for pathogens and virus-induced cancers.”

Dr. Ross will be based at Cleveland Clinic’s Florida Research and Innovation Center, a state-of-the-art research facility in Port St. Lucie, Florida. He will closely collaborate with researchers from across Cleveland Clinic, including the Global Center for Pathogen & Human Health Research, part of the Cleveland Innovation District, which is focused on broadening understanding of viral pathogens and the immune response to prepare and protect against COVID-19 and future public health threats.

Dr. Ross joins Cleveland Clinic from the University of Georgia where he was the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar of Infectious Diseases and director of the Center for Vaccines and Immunology. Prior to that, he was director of Vaccines and Viral Immunity at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of Florida.

A major focus of Dr. Ross’ research is developing a more advanced and longer-lasting flu vaccine to protect against multiple strains of the virus. He holds a leadership role in the prestigious Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Centers (CIVIC) network of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for work on designing next generation, universal influenza vaccines. He also collaborates with the INCENTIVE program with the European Union and the government of India on the development of novel universal influenza and COVID-19 vaccines.

Dr. Ross has published more than 230 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters on infectious disease and vaccine development. He participates in several vaccine working groups, including at the NIH, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization. He is an editorial board member of Vaccine. He is the President of the International Society for Vaccines.

For his scientific achievements, Dr. Ross received the Phoenix Award for Outstanding Academic-Industry Partnership with Sanofi Pasteur in 2017 and the 2019 Golden Helix Award. In addition, he was honored with the 2020-2021 Charles Dobbins Award for Excellence in Service during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Ross completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in zoology and microbiology at the University of Arkansas. He received his doctorate from Vanderbilt University and was awarded the inaugural Sidney P. Colowick Award in Outstanding Graduate Research. Dr. Ross performed post-doctoral fellowships at Duke University and at Emory University.