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From the time he was in sixth grade, Ted Cieslak knew he wanted to be a doctor. So when he graduated as valedictorian from Brunswick High School in 1975, it was no surprise he went to Ohio State University to begin his education. He completed his medical education at Baylor University.

Dr. Cieslak is board-certified in pediatrics, infectious diseases and tropical medicine.

"Ted has done everything from serving as a physician in a remote Eskimo village in Alaska to being a consultant to the surgeon general on matters of biowarfare and bioterrorism." said a nominator. "He is one of the most noted experts in his field, though he will say he was just in the right place at the right time. And now and then he still gets to see a pediatric patient, which he still enjoys very much."

Cieslak went through college under an ROTC scholarship. He completed his medical education in 1985 and was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas. A of couple years later, he served in Landstuhl, Germany, before entering a fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at Walter Reed Army Medical Center followed by his work at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio."

Cieslak was then appointed chief of field operations and then chief of the operational medicine division in the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Ft. Detrick, Md. Cieslak left in 2001 to become chairman of the San Antonio Military Pediatric Center. He lectures widely on various aspects of biodefense and disaster response.

Now a colonel in the army, Ted is married to Barb, who hails from Youngstown and is a respiratory therapist. They have two daughters, Mary Beth, 19, a sophomore in college, and Colleen, 10. He still tries to make it home to Brunswick to see friends and family in the area at least twice a year.