Dr. Wendy J. Ross, MD, FAAP

Dr. Wendy J. Ross, MD, FAAP is the inaugural director of Jefferson Health’s Center for Autism and Neurodiversity.  As a developmental pediatrician, she identifies developmental challenges in children and then helps to create and integrate their medical, educational, and therapeutic plans.  As a program lead, she helps create community opportunities throughout the lifespan for those with intellectual and developmental challenges.  Most recently she identified that having an intellectual disability was the number one reason for getting Covid and second only to age for dying from Covid.  She used this data to change CDC policy and to create a neurodiverse-friendly vaccination practice with community members.  Dr. Ross has been named a top 10 CNN hero for her community projects.  She attended the Humanities and Medicine Program at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine and completed her pediatrics residency at Yale and her fellowship in developmental pediatrics at Harvard