Ross I. Donaldson, M.D., M.P.H.

Ross grew up in the Land of Ten-Thousand Lakes (Minnesota), playing ice hockey with his younger brother on the nearby pond. After graduating from high school, Ross landed in Atlanta, at Emory University, where he studied biology and philosophy. He began his scientific career researching the genetic basis of monogamy in rodents, coined the "Love Gene" by Newsweek, and studied to become a medic, later driving ambulances and working in various capacities in the Emergency Department.

After finishing college, Ross lived in Asia for a year. He spent the first eight months in Taiwan teaching English to school children and studying Mandarin Chinese. When a mysterious outbreak began to spread through the island country, killing children, Ross did his first public health work with a small team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (C.D.C.), to help isolate the illness.