Ms. Blaus has served as chief administrative officer of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset, part of West Orange, N.J.-based RWJBarnabas Health, since April 2025. She is tasked with overseeing daily operations of the 343-bed hospital, one of the largest employers in the county, with 2,100 employees and a medical staff of 900 physicians. The hospital records 15,000 admissions, 134,000 outpatient visits and 52,000 emergency department visits a year, with centers of excellence spanning oncology, cardiology, behavioral health, orthopedics, neuroscience, maternity and more. Over 10 years in leadership roles there, she has expanded services, recruited specialists and led the growth of the hospital’s cancer program to bring comprehensive care closer to home. She oversaw completion of a 76,000-square-foot, two-story vertical expansion, the largest campus construction project in nearly two decades, whose top floor opened in February 2025 with 45 all-private patient rooms. She also helped add a new 18-bed rapid decision unit in 2025, along with technologies including focused ultrasound for essential tremors, cardiac PET/CT, the Mako robot for joint replacement and Aquablation therapy. Under her leadership, the hospital has earned three consecutive Leapfrog “A” patient safety scores, ranked among Healthgrades’ “America’s 250 Best Hospitals” three years in a row and was rated high performing by U.S. News & World Report in orthopedics, heart failure, diabetes and maternity care. In 2025, the hospital held more than 500 community outreach events across all 21 municipalities in the county, reaching 53,000 people, and it operates a “Healing Homes” transitional housing program that provides two homes in Somerville for county residents facing illness-related financial hardship.
