Robert Gross, MD, MSCE

headshot of Robert Gross, MD, MSCE

Speaks English and Italian

Robert Gross, MD, MSCE

Speaks English and Italian

  • Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
  • Professor of Epidemiology in Biostatistics and Epidemiology
  • Dr. Gross is an independent physician who is not employed by Penn Medicine.

Meet Dr. Gross

Dr. Gross is Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology in the Division of Infectious Diseases, with a secondary appointment in the Division of Epidemiology in the Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics. He is an Infectious Diseases Pharmacoepidemiologist with a particular interest in treatment outcomes of HIV, both domestically (particularly in Philadelphia) and internationally (particularly in Botswana). His projects have focused on several aspects of the status neutral care continuum, including assessment of risk factors for treatment failure, barriers to uptake of PrEP and testing various interventions to improve HIV-related outcomes in the developed and developing worlds. He designed and tested a CDC-endorsed adherence intervention based on problem solving theory (MAPS-Managed Problem Solving) and he has been principal investigator or co-investigator on several other interventions, including AIDS Clinical Trials Groups RCTs. Most recently, he has focused on the problem of nicotine dependence in people with HIV with several intervention trials and a mechanistic study of the etiology of the high rates of smoking in people with HIV.

His methods work has focused on the use of pharmacy-refill measures of antiretroviral adherence. Dr. Gross’ research program in Botswana has enrolled several thousand participants in studies to determine the impact of pharmacogenetic differences on HIV treatment outcomes, interventions to address nicotine addiction, and other studies of the HIV care and treatment continuum.

Dr. Gross’ program has been funded by several NIH institutes including NIMH, NIDA, NCI, NHLBI, NINR, and NIAID as well as the VA, and he held a Fogarty grant (D43) for training Batswana in HIV clinical epidemiology. He is also active in the Masters of Science in Clinical Epidemiology training program, mentoring fellows in Adult and Pediatric ID/HIV, Adolescent Medicine, Oncology, and other areas with several trainees having gone on to career development (K) awards and independent research (R) awards and prominent faculty positions at Penn and nationally.

Dr. Gross has been actively involved in the PENN Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) since its inception and currently serves as CFAR Co-Director and Director of the International Core, based in Botswana. He is also active in the International Society of Pharmacoepidemiology (ISPE), where he founded the Adherence Scientific Interest Group. He is a fellow of both ISPE and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and provides clinical infectious diseases care at the Crescenz VA Medical Center.

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