Ross Frommer

For more than 25 years, Ross Frommer has been a voice for Columbia University Irving Medical Center in Washington, Albany, and New York City, representing the institution on federal, state, and local legislative and policy matters. He came to Columbia after five years on the staff of the late U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, serving as Regional Director in the upstate office and State Director in the New York City office — itself the capstone of an earlier Capitol Hill career that included stints as legislative assistant and counsel to Congressman James Scheuer, legislative assistant to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, and legislative director of the Northeast/Midwest Senate Coalition. He is an attorney, admitted in New York and Washington, D.C., having started his career as a litigator at the Brooklyn firm Cullen and Dykman.

At Columbia, Frommer has become a go-to expert on health policy, chairing the Government Relations Representatives Steering Committee of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). He also teaches health policy at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, lectures at the School of Nursing, and organizes CUIMC's annual student advocacy trip to Albany — earning a reputation as a mentor to dozens of government affairs professionals in health and higher education. Just recently, he was awarded the AAMC Paul Vick Exemplary Service Award. For many years he led fundraising efforts for the CUIMC Medical Center Neighborhood Fund, and during the COVID-19 pandemic he helped organize a food insecurity relief effort. Ross has also testified before the New York State Legislature, advocating for the NYFIRST research-recruitment program and arguing the state risks losing scientific talent to more aggressive competitors. "Ross is a hero to us," one colleague wrote in nominating him.

Beyond the Capitol and the classroom, Frommer serves on the board of directors of Democracy Prep New York, a charter school network, and is Executive Sponsor and Co-Chair of CUIMC's Jewish Cultural Employee Resource Group — recognition that came full circle this year with a 2026 CUIMC Luminary Employee Recognition Award. A native New Yorker and graduate of Tufts University and Georgetown University Law Center, he lives in New York City with his wife, Connie Dong.