Will Ross, MD, MPH is associate dean for diversity at Washington University School of Medicine and professor of medicine in the Nephrology Division.   For over two decades, he has recruited and developed a diverse workforce of medical students, residents, and faculty while promoting health equity nationally and globally. He is a founding member of the Barnes-Jewish Hospital Center for Diversity and Cultural Competence and served on the task force that created the Washington University Institute for Public Health.  He has been instrumental in redesigning local access to health care for the underserved as the founder of the Saturday Free Health Clinic and co-founder of Casa de Salud Health Center. He is also a founding member of the Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience. 

Dr. Ross previously served as the chief medical officer and director of ambulatory clinics for St. Louis Regional Medical Center, the last public hospital in St. Louis. He is a charter and founding member of the St. Louis Regional Health Commission, which has leveraged millions of dollars annually to St. Louis to maintain an integrated network of safety net primary care clinics and public health services.  He served as Chairman of the board of directors of the Missouri Foundation for Health, where he helped create the nonprofit, Health Literacy Missouri.  He is Chairman of the board of directors of the Mid America Transplant Services Foundation, Chairman of the St. Louis City Board of Health, and a member of the CDC Health Disparities Committee.  Dr. Ross was recently appointed to a region-wide task force to assess strategies to enhance St. Louis City and County coordination.  Dr. Ross is the associate editor of the public health journal, Frontiers in Public Health Education and Promotion. 

Dr. Ross has numerous scientific publications and book chapters and is co-author of the upcoming book Poverty and Place. He has been honored with the 2005 State of Missouri MLK Distinguished Service in Medicine Award, the 2009 Washington University Medical Center Alumni Faculty Achievement Award, the 2011 Health Literacy Missouri Trailblazer Award, and the 2013 Samuel Goldstein Leadership in Medical Education Award.  A Yale University graduate, he completed medical school at Washington University School of Medicine, an Internal Medicine residency at Vanderbilt University, and a Renal Fellowship at Washington University.  He completed a Masters of Science in Epidemiology at the Saint Louis University School of Public Health.

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