Ross A. Frommer is Deputy Vice President for Government and Community Affairs and Associate Dean at Columbia University Medical Center. He represents the Health Sciences on legislative and executive branch matters at the federal, state, and local levels, and assists with the development and implementation of programs with the surrounding communities of the Columbia University Medical Center.

Prior to coming to Columbia University, Ross spent five years working for former Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) as State Director in the New York City office and as the Regional Director of the upstate office in Oneonta, New York. In that position he was in charge of all constituent outreach and managed the state staff.

Before joining Senator Moynihan's staff, Ross held several legislative and government positions. These include Legislative Assistant and Counsel to Congressman James Scheuer (D-NY), Legislative Assistant to Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), Legislative Counsel to the New York State Office of Federal Affairs, and Legislative Director of the Northeast/Midwest Senate Coalition.

In addition to his work in government, Ross was the New York Political Director for the Bradley Presidential Campaign in 2000. He was also a Disaster Assistance Employee with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and is currently a member of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton's Military Academy Selection Panel.

Ross is an attorney and practiced as a litigator with the Brooklyn, New York firm of Cullen and Dykman. He is admitted to practice in New York State, the District of Columbia, and before the Federal Courts. Ross is the current Chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges Government Relations Representatives Steering Committee and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Coalition for the Advancement of Medical Research. He has also taught politics at the St. Johns University School of Continuing Education and has been a guest lecturer at New York University and the State University of New York College at Delhi.

Ross, a native New Yorker, graduated from Tufts University and holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law Center. Ross is a former member of the Otsego County Democratic Committee and was listed as an influential New York State Democrat. He is also a Volunteer Instructor with Presidential Classroom.

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Sandra Harris joined the office of Government and Community Affairs as Director of Community Affairs in April 2003. She is responsible for maintaining community and institutional relations, developing partnerships and promoting programs that impact the development of the northern Manhattan community.

She comes to the Office of Government and Community Affairs after five years of serving as the Executive Director of the Northern Manhattan Community Voices Collaborative, a national initiative funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and based at Columbia University's School of Dental and Oral Surgery. Under her leadership, Community Voices strengthened partnerships between community and neighboring institutions to increase access to health care services. She secured funding to establish health outreach projects targeting the uninsured and health education programs focused on asthma, nutrition and exercise, and mental health services.

Sandra has worked with the northern Manhattan community for the past 16 years providing constituent services and managing the district office of former State Senator Franz Leichter and working with local community based organizations. Prior to her arrival at Columbia University, she directed a mental health center targeting recently arrived immigrants at Alianza Dominicana, the largest Dominican-based multi-service center in northern Manhattan. The project began as a pilot initiative that grew to become an integral part of the New York City's Department of Mental Health Hygiene services

She is a native of the Dominican Republic and holds a bachelor's degree from the Metropolitan College of New York and a Masters in Social Work from Hunter College. She has three children, Frank, Julio and Sandy.

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Edna Velez joined the Office of Government and Community Affairs as the Department Administrator in early 2003. She comes to the Health Sciences after spending more than 13 years in the Office of Public Affairs on Columbia's Morningside campus. Edna brings a wealth of experience, having served as a departmental administrator and executive assistant to the vice president for public affairs there. In these positions, Edna provided support for an office of more than 20 people, attending to every need--from equipment problems to lost paychecks. She originally joined Columbia in 1990, working as a mortgage officer and was soon promoted to the role of chief assistant to the director of federal and state relations, coordinating many large-scale events.

Edna is a certified teacher who has also worked in real estate and speaks both fluent English and Spanish.

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Natalia J. Arias
Office Assistant
Phone: (212) 305-9951
Fax: (212) 342-3914
na2114@columbia.edu

Natalia Arias works as an assistant for the Office of Government and Community Affairs. She joined Columbia University in 2001 to work on a research project for the School of Dental and Oral Surgery. Her responsibilities include data entry, recruitment of research cases and research analysis. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Lehman College.

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