Robert Fruend, Jr. is a Senior Lecturer of Health Administration at NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
Robert has been a health care leader for more than 20 years, focusing on issues of reducing health disparities, implementing community health initiatives to drive improvements in health outcomes, and developing strategic plans to create social change in health care delivery, and in his community.
Currently, Robert services as Senior Manager at Consilience Group, where he designs and leads consulting projects in the Social Service sector, specializing in strategic planning, organizational development, and system improvement/design projects. The Consilience Group practice focuses on developing systems of care across social sector organizations to enable people to live their best lives, with deep expertise in health equity and the social determinants of health.
Prior to joining the Consilience Group, Robert was the founding CEO of the St. Louis Regional Health Commission (RHC). The RHC serves as the regional planning body for health care issues in St. Louis. The majority of the work at RHC has been concentrated on preserving and enhancing the delivery of health services to the uninsured and underinsured in St. Louis City and County. While at the RHC, Robert built and led a health plan for 26,000 people in poverty in St. Louis (Gateway to Better Health), and founded several successful organizations dedicated to improving access to care and health equity (St. Louis Integrated Health Network, Behavioral Health Network of Greater St. Louis, Health Literacy Media, Alive & Well Communities).
Prior to joining the Commission, Robert spent seven years in the health care consulting practice of Ernst & Young LLP, focusing his practice on strategic planning, organizational change, and post-merger integration.
Robert has served on more than twenty non-profit or higher education boards and committees over the past 20 years and taught for seven years as an adjunct faculty member at Washington University School of Medicine. Robert was named by the St. Louis Business Journal as one of the “Most Influential People” in St. Louis.
Robert is a life-long native of the St. Louis region. He spends his free time with his wife Holly and two sons, Trey and Andrew.
