Roger W. Robinson

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.

Roger W. Robinson
Born	July 22, 1909 Buffalo, NY
Died	November 11, 2010 (aged 101) Grafton, Massachusetts
Nationality	United States
Alma mater	Northwestern University Medical School
Known for	Lipid research, Hormone replacement therapy
Scientific career
Fields	Cardiology
Institutions	Memorial Hospital (Worcester)

Early life and career

Dr. 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 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.[1][2] His research led to the identification of lipid-lowering effects of the female hormone estrogen[3] and he performed the earliest studies of estrogen supplementation in men and post-menopausal women.[4][5][6][7] 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.[8] 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.[9] 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

References

1. Engelberg, Hyman (1978). Heparin. New York: Basel. ISBN 3805528922.
2. Likar, Ivan (1985). Atherosclerosis : cattle as a model for study in man. Monographs on Atherosclerosis. 12. New York: Basel. pp. 1–175. ISBN 3805540698. PMID 4094619.
3. Higano, Norio (May 16, 1963). "Increased Incidence of Cardiovascular Disease in Castrated Women — Two-Year Follow-up Studies". The New England Journal of Medicine. 268: 1123–1125. doi:10.1056/NEJM196305162682007. PMID 13954392.
4. Robinson, Roger W (1956). "Effects of Estrogen Therapy on Hormonal Functions and Serum Lipids in Men with Coronary Atherosclerosis". Circulation. 14 (3): 365–372. doi:10.1161/01.CIR.14.3.365. PMID 13365047. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
5. Robinson, Roger W (1958). "Estrogen Replacement Therapy in women with coronary atherosclerosis". Annals of Internal Medicine. 48 (1): 95–101. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-48-1-95. PMID 13488218.
6. Watkins, Elizabeth Siegel (2007). The Estrogen Elixir: A History of Hormone Replacement Therapy in America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 9780801894862.
7. Robinson, Roger W (Nov 1957). "The Effects of Estrogens on Serum Lipids in Women". Archives of Internal Medicine. 100 (5): 739–43. doi:10.1001/archinte.1957.00260110055008. PMID 13468819.
8. Robinson, Roger W (1996). The Willard House and Clock Museum and the Willard Family Clockmakers. Columbia: National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors.
9. "Obituary for Roger Robinson Dr". Roney Funeral Home. Retrieved September 4, 2018.