Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. identified one of his appointees to a federal vaccine advisory panel as a GW professor, but officials confirmed he hasn’t been affiliated with the University since 2017.
Kennedy appointed Michael Ross, an obstetrician-gynecologist and medical investor, to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on June 11 as part of a new slate of eight advisers, two days after dismissing the previous 17-member committee. Kennedy’s release naming Ross to the panel states that he is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at GW and Virginia Commonwealth University, but spokespeople from both institutions confirmed that Ross has not been on their faculties in more than four years.
University spokesperson Katelyn Deckelbaum said Ross has not held a faculty appointment at the University since 2017. VCU spokesperson Brian McNeill said Ross was an affiliate faculty member through VCU’s Inova campus — a satellite campus that trained medical students in partnership with Inova Hospital — from 2006 to 2021, when the university’s partnership with the hospital ended.
Both universities declined to comment on which courses or programs Ross taught or his involvement in research projects or academic publications during his time as a professor. NBC4 Washington was first to report the discrepancy.
Ross does not appear on web archives of the GW School of Medicine & Health Sciences OB-GYN department’s faculty directories in 2013 or 2016, the years he was a professor at the University, according to his biographies and LinkedIn.
Ross did not respond to a request for comment.
Kennedy’s release also states that Ross previously served on the CDC’s Advisory Committee for the Prevention of Breast and Cervical Cancer, where he contributed to “national strategies” for cancer prevention.
“The slate includes highly credentialed scientists, leading public-health experts, and some of America’s most accomplished physicians,” Kennedy wrote on X.
HHS Spokesperson Emily Hilliard declined to comment if the CDC was planning to correct Ross’ biography to reflect his status as a former professor at GW and VCU or the exact dates he served on the committee but said the previous membership of ACIP had become a “rubber stamp” for any vaccine and the new group will “go where the science takes them,” by demanding more rigorous safety and efficacy data for new vaccine recommendations.
“Secretary Kennedy has replaced vaccine groupthink with a diversity of viewpoints on ACIP,” Hilliard said in an email.
Prior to Kennedy’s new appointments, the vetting process to become a member of ACIP could take up to two years, according to the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.
Ross is currently an operating partner at Havencrest Capital Management, a private equity health care investment firm based in Dallas, Texas, a role he’s held since April 2020, according to his LinkedIn. His LinkedIn also states his role as a GW professor ended in May 2025, not 2017.
Ross’ biography on Havencrest’s website states he served as a “presidential appointee” on the CDC’s breast and cervical cancer prevention board, but does not list the dates he served on the board. The biography describes Ross as a “serial CEO” with over 35 years of experience leading private healthcare companies.
The biography also claims he is a professor of pediatrics at GW, not OB-GYN. Deckelbaum did not clarify Ross’ official title while teaching at GW.
Ross’ LinkedIn profile states that he became the chief medical officer at Manta Pharma, a Maryland-based implantable device company in April, although his biography was removed from the company’s website last week, CBS News reported.
Havencrest Capital Management and Manta Pharma did not respond to requests for comment on the discrepancies in Ross’ various online biographies or his current role with the companies. Manta Pharma also did not respond to a request for comment on why Ross’ biography was removed from its website.
Kennedy’s other picks to ACIP include vaccine critics and doctors who promoted alternative treatments to COVID-19 infection, like taking ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, anti-parasitic medications which can cause adverse health effects in individuals who take them to treat COVID-19, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Ross cosigned an open letter during the COVID-19 pandemic that criticized a study concluding ivermectin was an ineffective treatment for the disease.
“Over the past year, many government agencies, academic journals, the broader media and medical associations have departed from historic norms and elevated the status of randomized controlled trials,” the letter reads. “Such trials are seemingly presented as the only valid basis for making clinical recommendations about COVID-19 treatment, no matter how flawed.”
