Roger W. Robinson

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.

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.

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.