Onward and Upward: Vanderbilt University Medical Center 1981-1997

Roscoe "Ike" Robinson served as Vice Chancellor of Vanderbilt University's Medical Center from 1981 to 1997; his tenure was approximately three times longer than that of most medical center chiefs. When Robinson retired in 1997, Vanderbilt University Medical Center had become a billion-dollar enterprise, with the best overall patient care facility in the region, world-class research, and a medical school voted repeatedly by its graduates as the country's best. ?Onward and Upward? offers insight into the reasons for that success.

ROSCOE R. "IKE" ROBINSON earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Central Oklahoma and a medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine. He served his internship and residency at Duke University Medical Center, and was also a research fellow at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York. Robinson returned to Duke as Chief Resident and continued at that institution for almost twenty-five years. He started and headed Duke's first Division of Nephrology, and eventually served as Associate Vice President of the Medical Center and Chief Executive Officer of the Duke University Hospitals. In 1981, he joined Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, as Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs. Robinson led Vanderbilt University Medical Center through a period of major growth and development in patient care, faculty, facilities, and research. Under his leadership, the medical center more than doubled in physical size, added two medical research buildings, expanded clinical space with a unified outpatient facility, and opened one of the premier biomedical libraries in the country. In recognition of his accomplishments, Robinson and his wife, Ann, were honored with the establishment of a named chair, a lectureship, and a historic library collection; the Ann and Roscoe R. Robinson Medical Research Building was also named in their honor.A leading figure in nephrology, Robinson served as President of both the American and International Societies of Nephrology, was a chairman of the Nephrology Board, and was the founding editor of ôKidney International,ö a leading journal in nephrology. He authored numerous articles and papers, and served on several editorial boards. Robinson retired from Vanderbilt in 1997. He was working on the manuscript for ôOnward and Upwardö when he died in 2004 following a prolonged illness. He and his wife, Ann, had two daughters, Brooke and Susan; and two grandchildren.