Lawrence Robinson named to chair Department of Rehabilitation Medicine

Dr. Lawrence R. Robinson, professor of rehabilitation medicine and physiatrist-in-chief at Harborview Medical Center, has been named chair of the nationally regarded Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the UW School of Medicine. His appointment is effective Aug. 1, pending approval by the UW Board of Regents.

Robinson joined the medical school faculty in 1989, having previously been on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. A graduate of Houston's Baylor College of Medicine, he is principal investigator for National Institutes of Health-funded studies of the management of pain after amputation and the effectiveness of pre-amputation analgesia to prevent phantom limb pain.

Lawrence Robinson

Robinson has received many awards for his research, teaching and training efforts. In 1992 and 1995, he received Outstanding Teaching Awards from graduating UW rehabilitation medicine residents. In 1999, he received an award for the best paper published by a physiatrist from the Physical Medicine Rehabilitation Education and Research Foundation for his paper, "Strategies for Analyzing Nerve Conduction Data: Superiority of a Summary Index Over Single Tests."

"Dr. Robinson's considerable achievements as a clinician and scholar represent an excellent match for the leadership of one of the nation's top programs in rehabilitation medicine," said Dr. Paul G. Ramsey, UW vice president for medical affairs and dean of the School of Medicine.

The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine is consistently ranked among the finest in the country. This month, U.S. News & World Report nationally ranked the department second only to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. This was the highest ranking received by any academic unit of the UW Academic Medical Center.

The goal of rehabilitation medicine is to help people with disabilities achieve the best possible function and independence so they can get on with their lives after a serious illness or injury. Successful rehabilitation is a team effort, with physicians and other health professionals working together with each patient to reach this goal.

The department educates and trains physiatrists (physicians who specialize in physical medicine and rehabilitation) and specialists in related disciplines such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, prosthetics and orthotics, and rehabilitation psychology. The department also provides training in the principles and methods of rehabilitation medicine to all medical students at the UW School of Medicine.

Dr. Marge Anderson, professor of rehabilitation medicine, has served as acting chair since the retirement of Dr. Walter Stolov last year. She will remain vice chair of the department. Stolov chaired the department for 12 years. ¶

Walter Neary