A Pediatrician and Infectious Disease Physician, Dr. Ted Cieslak retired in 2021 as Executive Director of Health Security for UNMC, as well as Medical Director of UNMCʼs Quarantine Unit and Co-Director of its Biocontainment Unit. He holds the rank of Associate Professor of Epidemiology within the Universityʼs College of Public Health and continues to teach as an adjunct faculty member. He also continues to support the Defense Departmentʼs Biosecurity efforts through the Institute for Defense Analyses.
Dr. Cieslak received his BS in Chemistry and his MD degree from The Ohio State University. He went on to complete a Residency in Pediatrics at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas and Fellowship training in Infectious Diseases at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. He also received an MPH degree from the University of North Carolina.
Dr. Cieslak is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the British Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is board-certified in Pediatrics, Infectious Diseases, and Tropical Medicine, and is a former Army Flight Surgeon. He is past president of the Armed Forces Infectious Disease Society, former Consultant to the Army Surgeon General on Biodefense matters, and former head of the US delegation to NATOʼs Biomedical Advisory Committee. From 2007-2010, he held the Defense Departmentʼs seat on the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. He retired from active duty in 2015 after 30 years with the US Army, where his prominent assignments included: Chief of Operational Medicine at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID; 1996- 2001); Chairman of the San Antonio Military Pediatric Center (2001-2006); Defense Department Liaison to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC; 2006-2010) and Chief Consultant to the Surgeon General (2010-2013).