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WiRED International brings
vital medical and health
education, free of charge,
to underserved communities
around the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Former Surgeon General of the United States Navy, Retired Vice Admiral Adam M. Robinson, M.D., Joins WiRED Governing Board

BY KRISTEN GARABEDIAN; EDITED BY BERNICE BORN

 

WiRED is pleased to announce that retired Vice Admiral Adam M. Robinson, M.D., has joined our Governing Board. Dr. Robinson was the 36th Surgeon General of the United States Navy (2007-2011). "As a physician, I have devoted myself to helping people in need," he said. "We are here on this earth to help one another."

 

A professorial lecturer for the Department of Health Services Management and Leadership at George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, Dr. Robinson is an expert in humanitarian and disaster relief, trauma care, the Primary Care Medical Home (PCMH) model, and population health and wellness programs. He was responsible for the floating hospitals that provided free care to injured people in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake (via USNS Comfort) and in Indonesia as part of the tsunami relief effort (via USNS Mercy). He helped develop a trauma patient evacuation system that successfully moved critically injured patients, who previously could not have survived an elevator ride, thousands of miles so they could receive lifesaving medical care.

 

"As an officer and Surgeon General of the US Navy, I learned the commitment of service," said Dr. Robinson. "WiRED International defines service. Their commitment to medical education, teaching, and health care information stands as a wonderful example of what committed people can do to help their neighbors. As our technology becomes ever more agile and capable, our world has diminished in size. Our reach is expansive because of the tools of communication and our job—to help each other—becomes even more critical. WiRED gives us the ability to reach out and touch others with knowledge, love, and compassion. I am proud to share in WiRED's mission."

 

Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Robinson entered the naval service in 1977 as a general medical officer and completed his residency in general surgery at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He served as staff surgeon at the US Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan, and ship's surgeon on the USS Midway. While serving as head of the Colon and Rectal Surgery Division of the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, he was called to temporary duty in 1987 as ship's surgeon on the USS John F. Kennedy and in 1988 on the USS Coral Sea. Dr. Robinson served as head of the General Surgery Department and director of the General Surgery Residency Program at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia, for four years before his appointment as acting medical director of the facility in 1994. After earning his MBA from the University of South Florida, he served for two years as the force medical officer for the Naval Surface Force, US Atlantic Fleet, and then as executive officer of the Naval Hospital Jacksonville. As commanding officer there, he commanded a detachment of the fleet hospital as a medical contingent to Joint Task Force Haiti.

 

In 1999, Dr. Robinson served as Director of Readiness for the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED). The following year, he became principal director, Clinical and Program Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, where he also served as the acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for Health Affairs, Clinical and Program Policy. He served as commanding officer of US Naval Hospital Yokosuka, then as deputy chief of BUMED for Medical Support Operations, acting chief of the Medical Corps, and commander of Navy Medicine National Capital Area Region. In 2007, he was appointed Surgeon General of the Navy and Chief of the Navy's Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

 

Dr. Robinson is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA). His decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal (two awards), Legion of Merit (two awards), Meritorious Service Medal (three awards), Defense Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), Joint Service Achievement Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, and numerous service and campaign awards. The author of many publications and presentations, Dr. Robinson is a member of the Society of Black Academic Surgeons, Le Société Internationale de Chirurgie, and the National Business School Scholastic Society, Beta Gamma Sigma. Dr. Robinson holds fellowships in the American College of Surgeons and the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgery and is a certified physician executive from the American College of Physician Executives. He earned his Doctor of Medicine degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, through the Armed Forces Health Professions Scholarship Program and completed his surgical internship at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield. Vice Admiral Robinson retired from active duty on January 1, 2012.

 

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