A nationally recognized, highly accomplished leader, business innovator, author, and strategic advocate for value creation in health and education, Dr. Ruth C. Browne is the President and CEO of Ronald McDonald House New York (RMH-NY). Her expertise and innovative approach, developed during her more than 15 years as a CEO in the nonprofit healthcare sector, inform her perspective in shaping organizational vision, to create competitively superior programs and services across stakeholders. 

Throughout her career, Dr. Browne has been purposeful in creating cultures defined by diversity, equity and inclusiveness in organizations. She has extensive experience building and leading high performing executive teams. Her approach to leadership and Board engagement has resulted in numerous wins, including sustainability models and plans, development and funding in excess of $87.4 million in her role as CEO across two organizations. Her oversight at RMH-NY, achieving unprecedented results, includes driving Board engagement with a 52-member Board, 400+ strategic and volunteer partnerships, over 350 Donors ($5,000+), and an 8,000+ volunteer force. Dr. Browne partners with the RMH-NY Board in exercising oversight for nearly $100 million in reserves. 

An experienced Director on public sector and non-profit boards with more than 20 years of Board-level community involvement, she is skilled at negotiating complex partnerships and currently serves on several advisory Boards. Dr. Browne also works with nonprofit groups and an extensive global professional network to address critical societal needs, both organizational and philanthropic, excelling at transforming health care to increase stakeholder value. Throughout her career, Dr. Browne has counseled Policymakers, Legislators, CEOs, and C-Suite executives while devoting considerable time and energy to mentoring future leaders in strategy, business development, operations and fiscal performance.

Dr. Browne transformed a 40-year-old business hospitality model at RMH-NY to a model focused on providing capabilities, programs and services offered at the intersection of healthcare and hospitality. She was recognized by the Mastercard/Harvard Innovative Leadership Series in 2020 and 2021 for her outstanding innovative approach to leadership in driving results. She has also been the recipient of numerous honors and awards featured across diverse media outlets. 

Prior to joining RMH-NY, Dr. Browne was the CEO of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, a best practice catalyst for interventions that advance health and educational equity solutions for culturally diverse populations locally, nationally and internationally. She is a skilled architect in the development of academic, public/private, community and government partnerships as a leader and Board member. Her work during her tenure at the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, at the height of the AIDS crisis, informed her balanced approach to crisis management from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 to the current moment, using the insights gained from one global pandemic, to pivot and successfully navigate through another. 

Dr. Browne earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Princeton University, a Master of Public Health and Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan, and a Doctor of Science from Harvard University School of Public Health. She studied, lectured and worked at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and Trinidad, taught at the Braun School of Public Health at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and maintains faculty appointments at three professional schools at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Dr. Browne is the recipient of two Fulbright Scholar Awards.