Ness is a professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Human Genetics & Environmental Sciences, is vice president for innovation and holds the James W. Rockwell Professorship in Public Health at UTHealth School of Public Health.

With her focus on creativity and innovation in science, Ness has authored several books: Innovation Generation: How to Produce Creative and Useful Scientific Ideas (2012); Creativity in the Sciences: A Workbook Companion to Innovation Generation (2013); Genius Unmasked; and The Creativity Crisis: Reinventing Science to Unleash Possibility (2014).