Frederick C. Robbins, who shared a Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine and was associated with the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine for more than 50 years, died August 4. He was 86.

Frederick C. Robbins

A memorial service for Robbins is tentatively set for 4 p.m. September 19 in Harkness Chapel. (For an update on the time of the memorial service, see the September 11 issue of Campus News.)

Case medical school dean emeritus and University professor emeritus, Robbins won the 1954 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with John F. Enders and Thomas H. Weller for discovering a method of growing poliovirus in a test tube. Up until that time, the virus had to be studied in monkeys, which were expensive to use and difficult to handle.

The scientists' achievement resulted in the development of effective poliomyelitis vaccines and also paved the way for the ultimately successful development of vaccines for other major scourges of childhood, particularly measles and German measles. Their work was done at Harvard University.

Robbins held positions at Harvard Medical School and several Boston hospitals before coming to Cleveland in 1952 to be a professor at what is now Case and to become director of the department of pediatrics and contagious diseases at what is now MetroHealth Medical Center.

In 1966, Robbins became dean of the Case School of Medicine and served in that capacity until 1980, when he assumed the titles of dean emeritus and University professor emeritus. University professor, the highest scholarly rank at Case, acknowledges a long and distinguished career. Only four faculty members have attained this honor in the history of the University.

In the late 1980s, Robbins was instrumental in establishing the Case medical school's collaboration with the government of the central African nation of Uganda and Makerere University for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis research. He led the first delegation to Uganda and served as co-principal investigator of a multidisciplinary research program on AIDS funded by the National Institutes of Health. The collaboration has been associated with a decrease in the incidence of HIV infection in Uganda.

A pediatrician by training, Robbins helped launch Case's Center for Adolescent Health in 1990 and became its director in 1992. He stepped down as director in 2000 but continued to remain involved with the center's activities.

Robbins continued to be seen in the halls of the medical school through the spring of 2003. In addition to remaining active with the Center for Adolescent Health, he continued to lecture graduate and medical students at Case and was working on a book about vaccines.

At Case, Robbins has been honored with the Special Medical Alumni Association Board of Trustees Award in 1993; an honorary doctor of science degree in 1992; and the first Frank and Dorothy Humel Hovorka Prize, given for exceptional achievement in teaching, research and service, in 1994.

He has received numerous honorary degrees and other awards from several institutions and organizations.

In October 2002, the east wing of the Case School of Medicine was renamed the Frederick C. Robbins Building, marking only the third time that a campus building has been named for a faculty member.

The Frederick C. Robbins, M.D., Professorship in Child and Adolescent Health was established in May 2002 after gifts and pledges totaling more than $1.65 million were received from Robbins‚ family, friends and colleagues. Also bearing his name at the medical school is a travel fellowship, made possible by gifts from friends, which is competitively awarded annually to enable a fourth-year medical student to conduct medical research and gain experience in another country.

The Robbins family asks that donations be made to medical school's development office.

Return to the online edition of the 8-21-03 Campus News.

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