Roger W. Robinson (July 22, 1909 – November 11, 2010) 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 Robinson was born in Buffalo, NY on July 22, 1909, to William W. and Anna (Hoover) Robinson. He graduated Northwestern University Medical School (Chicago) in 1935 and completed his post graduate training in medicine at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham and Women’s 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 fundraising 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 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. 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. 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 Robinson, along with his wife Imogene, cofounded the Willard House and Clock Museum in Grafton, which he served as president and chairman of the trustees.
Death and legacy Robinson died at home on November 11, 2010. The Roger W. Robinson Fund was created in his memory to support work in cardiovascular research, endocrinology, hematology and headache research and has helped purchase important laboratory equipment. An annual lecture series on Cardiovascular Disease continues.
YearLecturerTopic11989Jay N Cohn, MDNew Concepts of the Pathophysiology, Treatment and Prognosis of Heart Failure21990Stephen E Epstein, MDAngina with Normal Coronary Arteries: A Generalized Disorder of Smooth Muscle31991Eric J Topol, MDThrombolytic Therapy for Acute Myocardial Infarction41992Valentin Fuster, MDProgression and Regression of Coronary Atherogenesis: Evolving Concepts51993Robert A O'Rourke, MDManagement of the Post MI Patient: When is Coronary Arteriography Really Indicated?61994Thomas W Smith, MDManagement of the Patient with Heart Failure: New Insights and Clinical Implications71995B Greg Brown, MD PhDThe Effects of Lipid Lowering Therapy on Coronary Atherosclerosis and Clinical Events81996Robert L Frye, MDA Perspective of Coronary Revascularization91997Shahbudin H Rahimtoola, MB FRCP MACPHibernating Myocardium101998J Warren Harthorne, MDElectrotherapy: Past, Present, and Future111999Roger M Mills, MDHeart Failure and Transplantation Perspectives at the End of the Decade122000Anthony N DeMaria, MDThree Dimension Echocardiography: Promises and Challenges132001Victor Dzau, MDGene and Cell-based Therapies for Cardiovascular Disease142002James J Ferguson III, MDThe Evolving Standard of Care for Acute Coronary Syndromes152003James E Muller, MDDiagnosis and Treatment of Vulnerable Plaque162004Alfred F Parisi, MDFrom Infection to Inflammation: Fifty Years of Cardiology172005Robert Vogel, MDThe Vascular Biology of Coronary Risk Factors182006Marc A Pfeffer, MD PhDCardiovascular Events in Cancer Trials and Cancer Events in Cardiovascular Trials192007Peter C Block, MDPercutaneous Repair and Replacement for Valvular Heart Disease202008George Beller, MDDiagnostic and Prognostic Applications of Multimodality Imaging in Coronary Artery Disease212009William Gaasch, MDLeft Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction and Heart Failure222010Peter R Kowey, MDNew Therapies in Atrial Fibrillation232011Joseph Alpert, MDChanging Demographics in the US and the World and Its Effects on Clinical Medicine242012-13Robert A Phillips, MD PhDHypertension and Hypertrophy: Impacting and Predicting Renal and CV Outcomes in Chronic Kidney Disease252014-15Nikolaos Kakouros, MRCP PhDInterventional Options for the Elderly with Cardiovascular disease
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