Robert Pless
Dr. Robert Pless, MD, MSc, is a Canadian epidemiologist and vaccine specialist based in Ottawa, Ontario.
Career and Affiliations
Health Canada
Pless has held multiple positions at Health Canada.1)
From May 2017 to March 2018, he served as a Manager at Marketed Biologicals, Biotechnology and Natural Health Products Bureau, Marketed Health Products Directorate, where he evaluated the safety of biological products with a special interest in vaccines.2)
Then, he was Chief at the Clinical Evaluation Division, Centre for Biologics Evaluation, Biologics and Genetic Therapies until September 2021.
Public Health Agency of Canada
Pless is formerly an ex-officio representative for the Biologics and Genetic Therapies Directorate at Health Canada on the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI), serving at the time the group approved COVID-19 vaccines in Canada.3) Since September 2021, he is a member of the NACI High Consequence Infectious Disease Working Group.4)
World Health Organization
Pless is a member of the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) under the World Health Organization (WHO). He has contributed to publications on pandemic influenza vaccines.5)
Publications
Pless co-authored a paper on the GAIA Network funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.6) He was associated with the project in his role at the Public Health Agency of Canada.7)
He has contributed to other Gates-funded publications.8)