Hi, I'm Rob!

Robert S. Pugliese, PharmD is Founder and Principal of Health Design Consulting LLC, where he works with organizations across the healthcare industry to bring a design-centered framework to innovation challenges. He is also Director of the Scholarly Inquiry Design Track at Sidney Kimmel Medical College and Co-Founder of the Health Design Lab at Thomas Jefferson University. Passionate about fostering change-makers, Rob mentors teams and teaches health design principles to learners at all levels, from medical students to executives. A Doctor of Pharmacy, Rob spent over a decade as a clinical professor, practicing and teaching in Emergency Medicine, leveraging these skills during the pandemic to lead community-based COVID-19 testing and vaccination efforts in Philadelphia. Through his experience as a clinician and a person with insulin-dependent diabetes, he has learned the importance of including the patient and caregiver's voice in efforts to make healthcare work better for everyone. 

Rob brings his expertise as a health designer to a wide array of public health challenges to address the upstream determinants of health. One initiative he has championed is CoLab Philadelphia, which brings a customized classic Airstream trailer, outfitted as a community engagement hub, to public spaces in underserved neighborhoods to support conversations around health access and justice. In collaboration with numerous community partners, he has helped to build coalitions that lead to real change in the places that need it most. Rob has experienced first-hand how access to public green spaces can positively influence a person’s health and he seeks to bring that transformative power to more Philadelphians as a board member at Bartram’s Garden, an urban sanctuary and the oldest surviving botanic garden in the US. 

A lifelong geek, Rob’s passion for technology and creativity led him to start the first medical 3D printing lab at Jefferson. A recognized leader in the field, his research focuses on translating readily accessible manufacturing technologies to enable personalized care for more patients. In building an advanced 3D printing and bioprinting lab at Jefferson, he has enabled personalized surgical care, groundbreaking research, enhanced medical training, and improved education for many. In 2020, he led efforts to maintain access to critical COVID-19 testing supplies by converting his 3D lab into a manufacturing facility and led a multicenter clinical study to evaluate their effectiveness. 

A national leader in pharmacy, Rob was honored with the Prescott Award in 2018, is a past chair of the ASHP Section Advisory Group on Emergency Care, and is a co-author of the national guidelines for emergency medicine pharmacist services. Rob has presented at prestigious national venues such as SXSW and Stanford MedX. In 2019, he was honored as a Philadelphia Business Journal 40 Under 40 awardee. Rob produces a weekly podcast in his spare time and enjoys spending time with his amazing wife and three daughters at their home just outside of Philly.

You can find out more about Rob and his academic projects at HealthDesignLab.com. Or follow him on social media!