Robert C. Robbins, M.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Texas Medical Center
Robert C. Robbins became President and Chief Executive Officer of Texas Medical Center on November 5, 2012. Prior to that, he was professor and chairman of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he served as a member of the faculty since 1993. He served as director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, of the Heart-Lung and Lung Transplantation Programs, and of the Cardiothoracic Transplantation Laboratory.
Dr. Robbins is an internationally recognized cardiac surgeon who has focused his clinical efforts on acquired cardiac diseases with a special expertise in the surgical treatment of congestive heart failure. His research work includes the investigation of stem cells for cardiac regeneration, cardiac transplant allograft vasculopathy, bioengineered blood vessels, and automated vascular anastomotic devices.
He served as the guest editor of the Circulation Surgical Supplement from 2002 to 2005, president of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation in 2006, president of the Bay Area Society of Thoracic Surgeons in 2006, chair of the American Heart Association Cardiovascular Surgery and Anesthesia Council from 2007 to 2009, councilor-at-large for the Western Thoracic Surgical Association from 2007 to 2009, and on the President’s Cabinet at California Polytechnic State University from 2006 to 2012. In California, he served on the Board of Directors for two publically traded companies, Cohesion Technologies from 2000 to 2003 and Cardica, Inc. from 2000 to2009, and as a director for several other privately held Bay Area biotechnology companies. In 2009, he was elected to the American Heart Association Western States Affiliate Board of Directors and served as president of the organization in 2013. He was elected to the Board of Trustees of Millsaps College in Mississippi in 2010.
Dr. Robbins has lectured widely and published more than 300 peer reviewed articles. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Millsaps College in 1979 and a medical degree from the University of Mississippi in 1983. He completed his general surgical training at the University of Mississippi in 1989 and his cardiothoracic training at Stanford University in 1992. Dr. Robbins completed post-doctoral research at Columbia University and the National Institutes of Health, and congenital heart surgical fellowships at Emory University and Royal Children’s Hospital.
Dr. Robbins currently serves on the Board of Directors for Texas Medical Center, the Greater Houston Partnership, the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Houston Academy of Medicine Texas Medical Center Library, the Houston Technology Center, the Welch Foundation, the Houston United Way and Health Connect.