Alec Ritchie (born John Alexander Ritchie in 1968, Huntington Beach, California) is an American microbiologist, experimental hematologist, and healthcare administrator.

Dr. Ritchie was born and raised in Huntington Beach, California, attending Circle View Elementary, Middle, and Junior High School with the GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) Program. He excelled there at reading and science. From his mother’s nursing books, he had memorized all the bones in the body by the age of 8. He is the youngest of 5 sons (David, Jeff, Brian, and Kevin). He was a member of the Circle View Cross Country Team and was voted "Most Humorous Guy" in the 8th grade. He also played soccer (AYSO), baseball (Robinwood Little League), and Football (Pop Warner). During his pre-High School years he was the Athletic Manager's assistant at Santiago, Garden Grove, and Los Amigos High Schools for Varsity Basketball and Football. In addition to sports his favorite past time was scale model building and reading.

He then attended Marina High School where he participated on the Frosh/Soph, JV, and Varsity Football and Wrestling (heavyweight) Teams, Lettering in both sports. While no longer playing team sports, Dr. Ritchie maintains a rigorous exercise routine that has included jogging, resistance training, cycling, fencing, and Kenpo. Dr. Ritchie is also an avid marksman and hunter of wild boar, deer, pheasant, turkey, rabbit, and coyote. Like his fraternal ancestors, Dr. Ritchie is a Freemason of the Scottish Rite.

Upon completion of High School, Dr. Ritchie attended the Goldenwest Community College, taking courses in Science, Mathematics, and General Education. During this time he also worked full time loading furniture into the delivery trucks of the Levitz Furniture Company. With a GPA of 3.88, he transferred to California State University where he majored in Medical Microbiology and minored in Biochemistry. During his undergraduate education, he began work as a Research Associate at the UCLA School of Medicine in the Laboratory of Dr. John E. Edwards Jr., Chief of Infectious Diseases of the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Dr. Ritchie served as the President of the Microbiology Student Association and was a recurring member of the Dean’s List and a member of the President’s List. He was the Student Delegate of the Southern California Branch of the American Society of Microbiology. He graduated with a GPA of 3.76, having taken over 144 credit hours of general education and science courses while working full time.

After taking his Bachelor of Science degree, he was offered a number of opportunities for graduate studies around the country and decided to attend the Indiana University School of Medicine with a 4-year, $100,000 scholarship. He completed his doctoral training in less than 4 years under the mentorship of Dr. Hal E. Broxmeyer, Director of the Walther Oncology Center and Chairman of the Department of Microbiology. He graduated with a GPA of 3.92, and with a number of awards including the Walther Oncology Center’s Dr. Karl R. Ruddle award and the Indiana University’s Esther Kinsley award for the best dissertation of 1998, entitled “Suppression of Growth Factor Withdrawal-Induced Apoptosis in Hematopoietic Cells”. At the time of his graduation, he had 10 authored or co-authored peer-reviewed journal articles and 12 peer-reviewed abstracts, including several presentations at international scientific congresses, including the American Society of Microbiology and the American Society of Hematology. Dr. Ritchie was honored as a speaker at one of those conferences. He taught 3 semesters of microbiology to the nursing students and one semester to the medical students.

Dr. Ritchie completed his Fellowship at the Scripps Research Institute under the mentorship of Dr. Sanford J. Shattil, Chief of the Division and Hematology and Oncology, UCSD, and Editor in Chief of the journal Blood. During these two years, Dr. Ritchie co-developed with Dr. Shiraga a novel whole-cell model system to investigate cell-surface proteins. He left the Scripps Research Institute with one more journal article, a widely-referenced review article, two more abstracts, and two more presentations at international congresses. It was in San Diego that he developed the love of sailing and motorized sea craft. Joining his mother, he there became a member of MENSA, qualifying with SAT scores of 1293 and an IQ of 159.

Upon completion of his Fellowship in Vascular Biology, he took a post as Scientist developing whole-cell assay systems for highly sophisticated electrochemiluminescent diagnostic equipment at Gaithersburg-based IGEN International (now Bioveris). He also worked for Meso Scale Diagnostic providing the same type of expertise before being recruited to the National Institutes of Health as a Scientific Review Administrator within the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease, Microbiology Pre-Clinical Review Branch. Dr. Ritchie has conducted numerous reviews in the fields of arthritis, HIV/AIDS, virological and bacteriological biowarfare agents, pathogenic protozoa, vaccines, adjuvants, immunotherapeutics, diagnostics, innate immunity, parasitology, mycology, structural genomics, clinical trials, and antimicrobial resistance with some of the top scientists in the world. His efforts have been recognized with numerous awards, including Special Recognition and Achievement Awards from the Scientific Review Program, Certification from the Office of the Secretary of the Department of Heath and Human Services, the 2005 NIH Director’s Award, two 2005 NIAID Director’s Award for Biodefence-related efforts, and the 2006 NIAID Director’s Merit Award. He is also a member of the training faculty within the Review Program and has taken part in several scientific and management leadership courses.

Dr. Ritchie currently resides in Maryland with his wife and two daughters. He met the future Mrs. Chi Ritchie, BS, MS, MT (ACSP), CLS, during a medical microbiology laboratory course. She graduated from Lakewood High School a 4.0 Valedictorian with the highest honors. She is a graduate of UCI and the UCLA Medical Technology Program, a Masters in Clinical Virology, and currently leads a clinical virology laboratory for a local Contract Research Organization. She has previously held increasingly prominent positions with Covance, SciCorp, Nichols Institute, Quest Diagnostics, and EntreMed. Chi has many siblings with whom Dr. and Mrs. Ritchie maintain a close relationship with and is the daughter of an Air Force Colonel and Vietnam War veteran. Mrs. Ritchie’s favorite pastimes are exercising, gardening, cooking and travel. Dr. Ritchie’s favorite pastimes are exercising, bass guitar, hunting, travel, home remodeling, reading, hobbyist sauciér, and home theatre.

Dr. and Mrs. Ritchie’s daughters both excel in school, one attending the MAGNET program similar to the GATE program both her mother and father attended. They play sports such as soccer and basketball and play the piano and clarinet in addition to taking chorus, ballet and participating in Girl Scouts. Dr. and Mrs. Ritchie devote a good part of their personal time between various church activities (including Pioneer Club, Sunday school, and Via de Cristo). They actively support Jose Zayas Ministries, Compassion International, the Frederick Rescue Mission, and CareNet. They also enjoy yearly international travel, as well as frequently flying between Maryland and Texas, Indiana, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and California to visit with family and friends.

- Submitted by Mrs. Chi Phan Ritchie