Robert Ernst Email & Phone Number

I currently serve as the chief health officer and associate vice president for health and wellness in Student Life. As chief health officer, I serve as a direct advisor to the president on matters related to the wellbeing of the university community, including the promotion of health and wellness, disease management, and public health preparedness on all three campuses. My vision, one that aligns with the Okanagan charter, is to embed well-being into all aspects of campus systems, policies and culture and to inform the institution in its aspirational goal to become a health-promoting university. In Student Life my team is responsible for providing clinical health and counseling resources, health education and health promotion activities, campus epidemiology and infection prevention efforts and campus recreation facilities and resources for the university community. I am a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and received my M.D. degree from the University of Michigan Medical School. I subsequently completed internal medicine residency training at U-M where I also served as a chief medical resident. My early career was as a clinician educator in the Internal Medicine Department at the U-M Medical School, including eight years as associate residency program director. In addition, I have significant expertise in campus health, interprofessional team-based care and clinical practice design. Over the past twenty years I have served as medical director and later executive director at the University Health Service, as senior associate division chief of general internal medicine, and assistant chair for primary care in the Department of Internal Medicine. I was appointed by the president to lead the U-M community through the COVID-19 pandemic as director of Campus Covid-19 Response and chair of the Campus Health Response Committee. In addition to my current roles, I also oversee the Public Health Infection Prevention and Response Advisory Committee, I chair the Pharmacy Benefits Advisory Committee for the university, and I maintain an active primary care practice as a clinical assistant professor at the U-M Medical School.