Robert Pass

Dr. Robert Pass is a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he led clinical and epidemiological studies of maternal and congenital cytomegalovirus CMV infection for a number of years. Early in his research career Dr. Pass became convinced that the most important goal of CMV research should be prevention of congenital infection. He focused his research on understanding how CMV is spread, risk factors for CMV infection during pregnancy, and sources of maternal infection. In the 1990s, Dr. Pass conducted a number of industry supported clinical trials of a CMV glycoprotein B vaccine, which led to an investigator initiated, National Institutes of Health sponsored clinical trial of a CMV glycoprotein B vaccine. This work provided the first evidence of vaccine efficacy for prevention of maternal and congenital CMV infection.