Lisa Robinson | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Education | University of Toronto (1991) |
| Occupation(s) | Clinician-scientist, Professor, Pediatric Nephrologist |
Lisa Robinson is a clinician-scientist. She is a University of Toronto professor in the Department of Paediatrics and the Dean[1] of the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, former Head of the Division of Nephrology at The Hospital for Sick Children, a Senior Scientist at the SickKids Research Institute,[2][3][4] President American Pediatric Society 2022-2023, and the first-ever Chief Diversity officer for the Faculty of Medicine at University of Toronto.[5]
Robinson is originally from Toronto, Canada.[6] She completed her undergraduate and medical education (1991) at the University of Toronto,[4][6][7] where she was one of two black medical students in her class.[7][8][9]
She completed an internal medicine internship at the Toronto General Hospital (1991-1992), and then a pediatrics residency at the Children's Hospital of Western Ontario (1992-1995).[3][4][6] In 1995, she became a fellow of The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.[3] She held a fellowship in pediatric nephrology at Duke University, in North Carolina (1995-1999).[4][6] She completed research training in the Departments of Immunology and Medicine at Duke University, as a part of the Pediatric Scientist Development Program.[3][6][7]
From 1999 to 2002, she was a clinician-scientist at the Duke University Medical Center. She returned to Toronto in 2002, joining the Hospital for Sick Children as a staff nephrologist and a scientist-track investigator in inflammation, immunity, injury and repair.[3][7]
Robinson's research interests lies in inflammation, with a focus on the pathways underlying white blood cell migration.[6] As a pediatric nephrologist, her clinical interests lie in kidney transplantation and acute kidney injury.[7] She is a Canada Research Chair for leukocyte migration in inflammation and injury.[3][6]
In 2006, she founded the Manulife Kids Science program at the Hospital for Sick Children, which provides interactive science outreach to at-risk middle and high school youth (including patients who receive care at the hospital, and youth in remote and/or disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the Greater Toronto Area).[4][6][7][10][11] 16,000 children have participated in the program [7] In 2008, she received the Canadian Institutes of Health Research's Synapse Award ($5,000) in recognition of her outreach efforts through the Kids Science Program.[12] In 2014, she founded the Student Advancement Research (StAR) Program, a SickKids summer research program that provides a six-week paid internship (in research and clinical shadowing) for under-represented minority high school students, particularly Black and Indigenous students.[4][13]
In 2016, Robinson was appointed the first-ever Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Medicine.[4][7][14] In this role, she promotes diversity and inclusion of faculty and staff across the Faculty of Medicine.[15] She is a faculty mentor in the University of Toronto's Diversity Mentorship Program, and a member of the Black Canadians Admissions Subcommittee.[4]