Franklin Robinson Fellowship Announced

The Department of Neurosurgery is pleased to announce the creation of the Franklin Robinson Fellowship, which will enhance the education and training at Yale of outstanding young neurosurgeons who exemplify the qualities and ideals of the late Franklin Robinson, MD: dedication to excellence in neurosurgery research, clinical practice, scholarship, and teaching.

Dr. Robinson was a devoted and talented neurosurgeon and educator, as well as a revered member of the Yale community, whose impact on neurosurgery and neuroscience in Greater New Haven spanned 53 years. Fittingly, he himself was a fellow at Yale early in his career; in 1950, he joined the university as a neurophysiology research fellow in the laboratory of Professor John Fulton. Subsequently, over four decades, he was chief of the Section of Neurological Surgery at St. Raphael’s Hospital. He also served as a consultant at Griffin Hospital in Derby and at Veteran’s Memorial Hospital Medical Center in Meriden. Later in his career, Dr. Robinson was a clinical professor of neurosurgery at Yale School of Medicine and an attending neurosurgeon at Yale New Haven Hospital. Dr. Robinson was also active in various medical associations, serving as president of both the New Haven County Medical Association and the American Medical Association Section of Neurosurgery of the Connecticut Medical Society. He passed away at Yale New Haven Hospital in 2003.

“We are excited to honor the memory of one of the fathers of neurosurgery at Yale with this fellowship,” said Murat Gunël, MD, chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Yale School of Medicine and chief of the Department of Neurosurgery at Yale New Haven Hospital. “Immersed in all dimensions of his profession—science, patient care, scholarship, and education—Dr. Robinson was an exemplary role model and leader.”

Dr. Gunël added, “We are so fortunate that his legacy lives on—not only through the knowledge and wisdom he imparted to the numerous Yale neurosurgeons and faculty who were once his students, but also now through this fellowship, which will help shape the minds of future leaders in neurosurgery.”

The Franklin Robinson Fellowship will be awarded to an outstanding medical postgraduate to enhance his or her education and training in Yale School of Medicine’s Department of Neurosurgery. Preference will be given to candidates who are providing clinical care and/or conducting scientific investigation in the area of cavernous malformations of the brain.

The fellowship was established through generous gifts from Dr. Robinson’s late wife, Gloria Robinson, and his daughter, Dorothy K. Robinson. Both Gloria Robinson and Dorothy Robinson have strong ties to Yale University. Gloria Robinson earned a doctorate in history of science and medicine from Yale and was for many years a research affiliate in the Section of History of Medicine, and Dorothy Robinson retired from Yale in 2014 as vice president and general counsel.