Roger W. Robinson
Roger W. Robinson was an American cardiologist who served as Chief of Cardiology and Chief of Medicine at Memorial Hospital, Worcester, MA. He was the director of the Lipid Research Laboratory and served as a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is considered a pioneer in the field of lipid and atherosclerosis research.
Early life and career
Dr. Robinson was born in Buffalo, NY on July 22, 1909 to William W. and Anna Robinson. He graduated Northwestern University Medical School in 1935 and completed his post graduate training in medicine at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, MA. He joined Memorial Hospital in Worcester, MA in 1939 and served there in various roles over the ensuing 50 years. He served as an Army physician during World War II, as Chief of Cardiology and subsequently as Chief of Medicine at UMass Memorial Medical Center. His own private fund raising campaign led to the creation of the Lipid Research Laboratory at Memorial, which he also directed until his retirement in 1989.He was a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, which he helped bring to Worcester.
Career in medicine
Since his early years at Memorial Hospital and despite the lack of a laboratory or paid staff, Dr. Robinson engaged in research. Over the years, research funding from private and government funds, led to the development of a large research team with access to advanced lipid research equipment. Dr. Robinson recognized the role of cholesterol and diet in atherosclerotic heart disease and demonstrated that heparin prevents arterial clots.His research led to the identification of lipid-lowering effects of the female hormone estrogen and he performed the earliest studies of estrogen supplementation in men and post-menopausal women. Dr. Robinson also conducted research on strokes; his 20-year follow-up study of 1000 stroke patients is still the largest published research on the natural history of strokes.
Willard House and Clock Museum
Dr. Robinson, along with his wife Imogene, co-founded The Willard House and Clock Museum in Grafton, which he served as President and Chairman of the Trustees. The museum was created through Dr. Robinson’s generosity and successful fund raising efforts, as well as his wife’s vision and more than 20 years of love and dedication to the museum’s daily operation. Even while still working in medicine Dr. Robinson would greet guests and give tours at the Willard Museum.Death and legacy
Dr. Roger W Robinson died at home on November 11, 2010.The Roger W. Robinson Fund was created in his memory. The Fund has supported work in cardiovascular research, endocrinology, hematology and headache research and has helped purchase important laboratory equipment. An annual lecture series on Cardiovascular Disease continues today, in gratitude for his many contributions to the training of generations of medical students and house officers.
| Year | Lecturer | Topic | |
| 1 | 1989 | Jay N Cohn, MD | New Concepts of the Pathophysiology, Treatment and Prognosis of Heart Failure |
| 2 | 1990 | Stephen E Epstein, MD | Angina with Normal Coronary Arteries: A Generalized Disorder of Smooth Muscle |
| 3 | 1991 | Eric J Topol, MD | Thrombolytic Therapy for Acute Myocardial Infarction |
| 4 | 1992 | Valentin Fuster, MD | Progression and Regression of Coronary Atherogenesis: Evolving Concepts |
| 5 | 1993 | Robert A O'Rourke, MD | Management of the Post MI Patient: When is Coronary Arteriography Really Indicated? |
| 6 | 1994 | Thomas W Smith, MD | Management of the Patient with Heart Failure: New Insights and Clinical Implications |
| 7 | 1995 | B Greg Brown, MD PhD | The Effects of Lipid Lowering Therapy on Coronary Atherosclerosis and Clinical Events |
| 8 | 1996 | Robert L Frye, MD | A Perspective of Coronary Revascularization |
| 9 | 1997 | Shahbudin H Rahimtoola, MB FRCP MACP | Hibernating Myocardium |
| 10 | 1998 | J Warren Harthorne, MD | Electrotherapy: Past, Present, and Future |
| 11 | 1999 | Roger M Mills, MD | Heart Failure and Transplantation Perspectives at the End of the Decade |
| 12 | 2000 | Anthony N DeMaria, MD | Three Dimension Echocardiography: Promises and Challenges |
| 13 | 2001 | Victor Dzau, MD | Gene and Cell-based Therapies for Cardiovascular Disease |
| 14 | 2002 | James J Ferguson III, MD | The Evolving Standard of Care for Acute Coronary Syndromes |
| 15 | 2003 | James E Muller, MD | Diagnosis and Treatment of Vulnerable Plaque |
| 16 | 2004 | Alfred F Parisi, MD | From Infection to Inflammation: Fifty Years of Cardiology |
| 17 | 2005 | Robert Vogel, MD | The Vascular Biology of Coronary Risk Factors |
| 18 | 2006 | Marc A Pfeffer, MD PhD | Cardiovascular Events in Cancer Trials and Cancer Events in Cardiovascular Trials |
| 19 | 2007 | Peter C Block, MD | Percutaneous Repair and Replacement for Valvular Heart Disease |
| 20 | 2008 | George Beller, MD | Diagnostic and Prognostic Applications of Multimodality Imaging in Coronary Artery Disease |
| 21 | 2009 | William Gaasch, MD | Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction and Heart Failure |
| 22 | 2010 | Peter R Kowey, MD | New Therapies in Atrial Fibrillation |
| 23 | 2011 | Joseph Alpert, MD | Changing Demographics in the US and the World and Its Effects on Clinical Medicine |
| 24 | 2012-13 | Robert A Phillips, MD PhD | Hypertension and Hypertrophy: Impacting and Predicting Renal and CV Outcomes in Chronic Kidney Disease |
| 25 | 2014-15 | Nikolaos Kakouros, MRCP PhD | Interventional Options for the Elderly with Cardiovascular disease |