Robert K. Ross

Robert K. Ross is president and chief executive officer of The California Endowment, a private statewide foundation established in 1996 to address the health needs of Californians. Before he joined the endowment in 2000, he served as director of the Health and Human Services Agency for the County of San Diego. He has an extensive background in health philanthropy and as a public health administrator and clinician. He has served as a commissioner for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health; medical director for LINK School-Based Clinic Program in Camden, New Jersey; an instructor of clinical medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia; and as a faculty member at San Diego State University’s School of Public Health. He has been involved in community and professional activities at both the local and national level. He is a member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans and co-chair of the Diversity in Philanthropy Coalition. He is a past member of the California Health Benefit Exchange Board, the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors Board, National Vaccine Advisory Committee, and the boards of Grantmakers in Health, the National Marrow Donor Program, San Diego United Way, and Jackie Robinson YMCA. In addition to serving on the PPIC Statewide Survey Advisory Committee, he is a Diplomate of the American Academy of Pediatrics and has served on the President’s Summit for America’s Future. He chaired the national Boost for Kids Initiative and was honored by the Council on Foundations as the Distinguished Grantmaker of the Year for 2008. He received his MD, MPA, and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.