Texas Medical Center in Houston is losing its CEO Robert C. Robbins, MD, to the University of Arizona in Tucson. Dr. Robbins will take on the role of university president on June 1.
The Arizona Board of Regents unanimously approved Dr. Robbins' contract for a three-year term. He will be the university's 22nd president.
Dr. Robbins has served as president and CEO of Texas Medical Center since 2012. Prior to that, he was a professor and cardiothoracic department chairman at Stanford (Calif.) University School of Medicine as well as founding director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute.
A cardiac surgeon by training, Dr. Robbins has served as president of the International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation and of the Western Thoracic Surgical Association. He has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed articles.
During his tenure as CEO, Texas Medical Center opened its TMCx business incubator and TMCx+ co-working space, according to a Houston Business Journal report. He also led the planning for TMC3, an innovation campus that will house Texas A&M University, Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Construction of the campus is still underway.