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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)

1)
Robert Pless. LinkedIn. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-pless-aa200320/?originalSubdomain=ca
2)
Jordan, S. A., Jack, S. A., & Pless, R. P. (2018). Safety Surveillance of Dietary Supplements: Importance, Challenges, and New Horizons. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 104(3), 432–434. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpt.1101
3)
National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI): Membership and representation. (2020, December 18). Wayback Machine; Government of Canada. https://web.archive.org/web/20201218222110/https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization/national-advisory-committee-on-immunization-naci/naci-membership-representation.html
4)
Public Health Agency of Canada. (2022, February 9). COVID-19 vaccination timing for individuals previously infected with SARS-CoV-2: NACI rapid response. Government of Canada. https://web.archive.org/web/20220422032902/https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/immunization/national-advisory-committee-on-immunization-naci/rapid-response-guidance-covid-19-vaccination-timing-individuals-previously-infected-sars-cov-2.html
5)
Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS). (2014, November). Safety of Immunization during Pregnancy: A review of the evidence. Wayback Machine; World Health Organization. https://web.archive.org/web/20220202232441/https://www.who.int/vaccine_safety/publications/safety_pregnancy_nov2014.pdf
6)
Bonhoeffer, J., Kochhar, S., Hirschfeld, S., Heath, P. T., Jones, C. E., Bauwens, J., Honrado, Á., Heininger, U., Muñoz, F. M., Eckert, L., Steinhoff, M., Black, S., Padula, M., Sturkenboom, M., Buttery, J., Pless, R., & Zuber, P. (2016). Global alignment of immunization safety assessment in pregnancy – The GAIA project. Vaccine, 34(49), 5993–5997. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2016.07.006
7)
Public Health Agency of Canada - GAIA. (2016, August 1). Wayback Machine; GAIA Network. https://web.archive.org/web/20160801072130/http://gaia-consortium.net/public-health-agency-of-canada-phac/
8)
Maternal Immunization Safety Monitoring in Low-and Middle-Income Countries: A Roadmap for Program Development. Global Alliance to Prevent Prematurity and Stillbirth. Retrieved April 21, 2022, from https://www.gapps.org/PDF/MaternalImmunizationSafetyMonitoringInLMICs.pdf
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