Perry Robins, MD

Perry Robins, MD, is a world-renowned surgeon and medical pioneer

who changed the way people think about the sun. He’s also a teacher, mentor, philanthropist, entrepreneur, publisher, adventurer, father, grandfather and joke-teller.

Robins grew up in New Jersey during the Great Depression, where money was scarce and undiagnosed dyslexia rendered his schoolwork an upward battle. Despite that, he became the first person in his family to attend college. It wasn’t until he was drafted into the Army, though, that a mentor saw his potential and planted the seed for a big dream: to become a doctor.

And he did, with some assistance from the GI Bill, at Heidelberg University School of Medicine in Germany. Dr. Robins returned to New Jersey for his internship, then did a residency at the Bronx VA Hospital and completed his dermatology training at NYU.

In what would become the turning point of his career, Dr. Robins studied a type of skin cancer surgery invented by Frederic Mohs, MD, at the University of Wisconsin and recognized that this technique had great potential for the field of dermatology. Dr. Robins established the first formal training program for the technique, performed more than 47,000 surgeries during his 40-plus years of practice at NYU and saved many lives. He taught Mohs surgery in nearly 50 countries and in four languages.

In his spare time, Dr. Robins created an international society and two dermatology journals to spread the word among physicians. He fought the long-held belief that tanning was healthy, started a foundation and raised millions to educate the public about the world’s most common cancer.

He also learned to fly, invested in businesses and real estate, traveled the world, made lifelong friends, married and divorced twice, had two kids and found the love of his life at the age of 76. Now retired from practicing medicine, Dr. Robins invests in start-ups and splits his time between New Jersey, New York City and the Palm Beach area.