Roscoe R. "Ike" Robinson, M.D.
August 21, 1929 - August 7, 2004
Roscoe R. “Ike” Robinson, M.D., an internationally
recognized physician and educator who led Vanderbilt University Medical
Center through a period of tremendous growth and change during the 1980s and
1990s, died Saturday, August 7, 2004. He was 74.
Dr. Robinson, professor of Medicine and vice chancellor
for Health Affairs, Emeritus, served from 1981 until 1997 as the chief
executive and academic officer for all of Vanderbilt’s programs in health,
including those of the Schools of Medicine and Nursing, the Vanderbilt
Medical Group, Vanderbilt University Hospital, Vanderbilt Children’s
Hospital, the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital, the Vanderbilt Stallworth
Rehabilitation Hospital, and Vanderbilt Health Services.
Dr. Robinson died after suffering from Idiopathic
Pulmonary Fibrosis, an incurable, progressive lung disease, since 1998.
“Ike governed the Vanderbilt University Medical Center
during the turbulent and uncertain times of the ‘80s and ‘90s with a
combination of bold strategy, meticulous attention to detail and ‘country
doctor’ personality,’” said Joe B. Wyatt, Chancellor Emeritus of Vanderbilt
University. “But his often homespun persona could be displaced in a
heartbeat by riveting rhetoric describing a cutting-edge area of medical
research or a complex issue of medical care, always in a vocabulary tailored
to his audience, whether medical professionals or community volunteers. He
inspired, he explained and he cajoled – whatever it took to lead the vast
constituency that needed persuasion to do what he was convinced needed to be
done.”
Wyatt said that there was “complete trust” between him
and Dr. Robinson as they worked together on Medical Center issues.
“If we disagreed, we did so privately until we could
come to a mutual understanding or move on,” Wyatt said. “And never did a
disagreement on one matter contaminate the discussion of another. Ike
realized the value of our relationship to the progress of the Medical Center
and the entire University as the medical sciences became more and more
interdisciplinary and interdependent with the biological sciences, physics,
chemistry and engineering. And Vanderbilt’s exhilarating progress, in all
dimensions over the past two decades, can in large part be connected to the
multi-faceted life and times of Ike Robinson.”
Dr. Robinson came to Vanderbilt in 1981 after more than
two decades at Duke University Medical Center where he had served as the
director of the division of Nephrology and the Florence McAlister Professor
of Medicine. He also served for five years as associate vice president and
Duke Hospital’s chief executive officer.
Under Dr. Robinson’s leadership at Vanderbilt, the
medical center experienced phenomenal growth in its clinical and academic
enterprises, its physical plant and its financial strength.
The medical and nursing faculties mushroomed from about
500 members in 1981 to more than 1,000 when he stepped down, constituting a
wide spectrum of physicians, nurses, scientists and educators selected to
enhance the VUMC missions of high standards in education, research and
patient care.
“It is not easy to measure all that Ike Robinson
accomplished during his 16 years as vice chancellor for Health Affairs at
Vanderbilt,” said Harry R. Jacobson, M.D., vice chancellor for Health
Affairs and Robinson’s successor. “The progress at the medical center during
that time was remarkable. His leadership and guidance permitted the medical
center to flourish, but Ike’s contributions stretch far beyond the confines
of Vanderbilt. His contributions to nephrology, both nationally and
internationally, and to academic medicine, will long be remembered.”
The VUMC skyline also took on new dimensions during the
Dr. Robinson years. New faculty meant more specialty clinics and the need
for more teaching and research space. Thus followed the multi-specialty
Vanderbilt Clinic, Medical Research Building I (now the Robinson Research
Building), Medical Research Building II (now the Preston Research Building),
the Eskind Biomedical Library, the Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital, the
Psychiatric Hospital at Vanderbilt, Medical Center East, and the Kim Dayani
Health Promotion Center.
Dr. Robinson also supported the many changes in the
focus of the Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, which for years was
aligned academically with the University’s central campus. In 1984 it became
a vital part of the Medical Center.
The financial picture also flourished. The Medical
Center’s annual operating budget, nearly $160 million in 1981, was almost
$800 million when Dr. Robinson retired. Annual fundraising increased from $8
million to $41 million during his tenure. There was a six-fold increase in
grants and contracts.
But Dr. Robinson’s leadership wasn’t all about bricks
and mortar, said Martha Ingram, chair of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust.
“I have such very high regard for Ike Robinson,”
Ingram said. “He helped build Vanderbilt University Hospital into the
hospital of choice for the Middle Tennessee area. It’s no accident that
Vanderbilt Hospital, during his tenure, has been ranked 17th on
the honor roll of the nation’s best hospitals by U.S. News and World
Report. All of this has been accomplished in part, because of Ike’s
dedication to his profession and his very likable personality. He
accomplished these things not by pounding the table but by being so strong
with his vision and having the personality to convince others of what needed
to be done.”
David K. (Pat) Wilson, chairman of the Vanderbilt
University Board of Trust from 1981 until 1991 and a former member of the
Medical Center Board, worked with Dr. Robinson from his first year as vice
chancellor. His leadership skills were impeccable, Wilson said.
“Ike gave Vanderbilt outstanding leadership,” Wilson
said. “He laid a terrific foundation for the Medical Center and was a good
and thoughtful friend. He made an outstanding contribution to the
community.”
When he stepped aside in 1997, the Ann and Roscoe R.
Robinson Chair in Nephrology was established by friends and supporters, and
the Ann and Roscoe R. Robinson Medical Research Building (formerly MRBI) was
named in his honor. In addition, a lectureship in his name was established
by faculty, followed by the Ann and Roscoe R. Robinson Chair in Diabetes
Clinical Research.
“The hands and face of Ike Robinson are clearly seen
in the span of his leadership at Vanderbilt University Medical Center,” said
Edward G. Nelson, of Nelson Capital Corp., former chairman of the Medical
Center Board and a longtime member of the Vanderbilt Board of Trust. “From
his very first day, he made the first team All America rank for the
development of medical education, the creation of the enormous
infrastructure that has become Vanderbilt University Medical Center, the
maintenance and improvement in the strong character of its medical and
administrative staff and the building of a highly positive image of the
Medical Center within the Nashville community. Along this trail, he created
a wide range of friends, no enemies and just plain success.”
Dr. Robinson grew up in Oklahoma, the son of an
educator who had studied in Nashville at George Peabody College and later
served as president of Central State College, now known as the University of
Central Oklahoma. He received his entire education in Oklahoma, including a
medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in 1954
as well as an honorary doctorate degree from the university in 1994.
Dr. Robinson had planned to leave Oklahoma for medical
school. He had been accepted to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine,
but decided to remain at home for financial reasons after the death of his
father.
In 1952 he married Ann Allen who has been an active
participant in her husband’s career as well as a tireless worker for
Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital and other charities.
After medical school, Dr. Robinson obtained his
residency training in internal medicine at Duke University Medical Center,
followed by a research fellowship at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center
before returning to Duke as director of the division of Nephrology, the
Florence McAlister Professor of Medicine, and Associate Vice President for
Health Affairs. Except for the research fellowship at
Columbia-Presbyterian and a medical stint in the U.S.
Air Force where he established the air force’s first hemodialysis unit, Dr.
Robinson never left Duke between 1954, when he began his residency, and 1981
when he left to come to Vanderbilt. A Duke Lectureship in Nephrology was
established in his honor.
“Ike was one of my favorite people,” said William G.
Anlyan, M.D., Chancellor Emeritus at Duke, who saw Robinson progress from an
intern, resident and chief resident to Director of Nephrology to Duke
University Hospital’s leader. “When it was time to pick a physician to head
Duke University Hospital, I wanted someone who had the highest respect of
clinicians at Duke. Ike was my number one candidate,” Anlyan said.
When Dr. Robinson left Duke after more than two
decades, he became Anlyan’s peer at Vanderbilt.
“He had been wooed by a lot of other institutions who
wanted him as their chairman of medicine, etc., but although I was sad to
see him leave for Vanderbilt, I was glad he landed a top position I knew he
would enjoy. Vanderbilt was lucky to have him.”
Robert D. Collins, M.D., John L. Shapiro Professor of
Pathology and a 1951 graduate of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine,
has witnessed dramatic changes in the Medical Center since joining the
faculty in 1959, and has observed the comings and goings of all deans and
vice chancellors since 1950.
“From the day Ike and Ann arrived in 1981, it was
clear we had more than a chief executive officer disguised as a vice
chancellor,” Collins said. “We had a chief academic officer, a distinguished
academician in his own right, who gave us more than buildings – he gave us a
sense of pride and purpose. During his tenure, clinical and research
facilities doubled in size, but the growth in faculty was even more dramatic
in terms of number and quality,” Collins said.
“These changes in buildings and faculty may be the
most visible legacy of Ike Robinson, but more importantly the Robinsons have
indelibly altered the way we view ourselves and our relationship to this
community,” Collins said. “If I may be so presumptuous as to speak for the
faculty, as a faculty member, I thank them for the warmth and collegiality
here now as well as my pride in Vanderbilt.”
Jane Tugurian, Dr. Robinson’s assistant for 16 years at
Vanderbilt, remembers him fondly.
“I can only talk about Ike Robinson and what he meant
to me personally, and that is a whole lot,” Tugurian said. “I loved him as a
boss, as a friend, and as an advisor and a counselor; I loved him for his
humility and for the fact that he acted so tough and was such a softie; and
I loved him because he was wonderful to me and to my entire family.”
Dr. Robinson was a member of the American Board of
Internal Medicine and past chair of its Nephrology Board, a past president
of the American Society of Nephrology, a past president of the International
Society of Nephrology and the founding editor of Kidney International,
the leading journal in Nephrology. He held that position for 13 years.
His awards are numerous. He received the prestigious
John P. Peters Award of the American Society of Nephrology and the
International Society of Nephrology’s Jean Hamburger Award for his
contributions to national and international nephrology. He was a former
editor of the section on kidney disease in Cecil’s Textbook of Medicine, and
he served on the editorial boards of several medical journals.
He belonged to numerous academic and professional
societies, including service on the National Advisory Council of the
National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Disease, and as the
National Consultant in Nephrology to the Surgeon General of the United
States Air Force. He was a past president of the Society of Medical
Administrators and past chair of the board of the Association of Academic
Health Centers. He was a past member of the board of directors of the
National Kidney Foundation, the American Heart Association, the executive
committee of the board of directors of Research!America, and the board of
directors of the American Medical Association Foundation. He was the 2000
recipient of Research!America National Advocacy Award for Sustained
Leadership at the National Level.
Dr. Robinson was also a past trustee of Duke
University, vice chair of the board of the Duke University Health System and
a life trustee of Montgomery Bell Academy. He was a past member of the board
of directors of Hospital Hospitality House, the Cheekwood Botanical Gardens
and Fine Arts Center, the board of the Nashville Chamber of Commerce and was
a past chair of the United Way of Nashville and Middle Tennessee. He was a
past member of the Board of Directors of ClinTrials Research Inc., Sun
Health Inc., and the First American Corporation.
He was the author or co-author of 150 articles, most of
which center around research interests in high blood pressure and diseases
of the kidneys. He was the recent co-author of a history of the
International Society of Nephrology: “The First Forty Years.”
Dr. Robinson is survived by his wife, Ann, of
Nashville; two daughters, Brooke Robinson of Nashville and Susan (Mrs. John)
Solberg of Baltimore, Md.; a sister, Lucy (Mrs. John) Hill of San Marcos,
Texas; and two grandchildren, John Robinson Solberg and Sarah Allen Solberg.
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