Professor David Ross is the Medical Director at MASTA and has been associated with the company since 2005. He was commissioned into the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1983 and graduated in medicine from St Bartholomew’s Hospital, London in 1986. In 2012 he was appointed the Parkes Professor of Preventive Medicine, in 2014 an Honorary Queen’s Physician and in 2023 an Officer in the Order of St John. He was the senior advisor on public health from 2012–2023 to the UK Surgeon General. He retired from the Army in October 2024, after 41 years active service.

Professor David Ross was Director of Education, Honorary Secretary, and Vice Dean before becoming Dean of the Faculty of Travel Medicine, Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons (Glasgow) in October 2024. Recent travel medicine research interests have included malaria prevention and tuberculosis screening. He was Chief Examiner of the Diploma of Medicine in Conflict & Catastrophes at the Society of Apothecaries until 2024, is Chair of the Final UK MFPH and an Examiner at the UK Faculty of Public Health.

The last few years of his military working life were dominated by supporting the international and national public health response to COVID-19, where he managed many large COVID outbreaks both overseas and in the UK. David also led research into risk factors for mental ill health in the UK Army and for this was awarded a PhD by the University of Glasgow in 2024.