Robert D. Ernst

Robert D. Ernst, M.D., serves as the chief health officer for the University of Michigan and associate vice president for health and wellness in the university’s Division of Student Life.

As chief health officer, he is a key advisor to the U-M president on matters related to the promotion of health and well-being, disease management, and public health preparedness. His vision, one that aligns with the Okanagan Charter, is to embed health and well-being into all aspects of campus culture and to inform the institution in its aspirational goal to become a health-promoting university.

With more than two decades of leadership experience, he has enhanced campus resources and programs across a continuum of care to ensure greater access to individualized mental health and well-being supports. Dr. Ernst led U-M through the COVID-19 pandemic and established the lasting infrastructure for the Public Health Infection Prevention and Response Advisory Committee, which he chairs.

His portfolio as associate vice president for health and wellness includes University Health & Counseling; Wolverine Wellness; Recreational Sports; and epidemiology and infection prevention. Also included is the Well-being Collective, which is actively working to build an ecosystem where every member of the community has the opportunity to thrive through the development of thoughtful, intentional systems and policies.

He has a strong record of advocacy for university employees, including his work as chair of the Pharmacy Benefits Advisory Committee and member of the MHealthy Advisory Committee. National and regional organizations seek his expertise, including the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration through the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Washtenaw County Health Department. A practicing primary care physician, Ernst is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and received his M.D. degree from the U-M Medical School. He completed his internal medicine residency training at U-M Hospital where he also served as a chief medical resident. He has previously served as executive director and medical director at University Health Service and as senior associate division chief of general internal medicine and assistant chair for primary care in the Department of Internal Medicine at Michigan Medicine. He is a clinical assistant professor at the U-M Medical School and he has been a physician at U-M since 1991.