William Robinson, MD

William Robinson, MD, is a professor, and David S. Sumner Endowed Chair and Chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. His clinical practice involves the full range of open vascular and endovascular surgery with an emphasis on peripheral artery disease (PAD), aortic aneurysm disease, cerebrovascular disease, hemodialysis access, and venous disease. He has a particular interest in complex lower extremity revascularization and limb preservation.

Dr. Robinson earned his medical degree from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and completed his General Surgery training at the University of North Carolina. He then completed a Vascular Surgery fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School, where he also obtained additional research training in the Clinical Effectiveness Program at the Harvard School of Public Health. Prior to coming to SIU, Dr. Robinson held faculty appointments at the University of Massachusetts, the University of Virginia, and East Carolina University.

Dr. Robinson maintains active roles in numerous professional organizations and peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Robinson has been elected a Distinguished Fellow of the Society of Vascular Surgery and is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He serves the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) as Chair of the Postgraduate Education Committee and serves on the SVS Quality and Performance Measures and Document Oversight Committees. He has held a number of leadership positions in other surgical and medical associations, including the Southern Association of Vascular Surgery, the New England Society for Vascular Surgery, the Society for Clinical Vascular Surgery, and the Vascular Quality Initiative. He has also served the Vascular Surgery Board of the American Board of Surgery as an examination consultant for the Vascular Surgery In-Training, Qualifying, and Continuous Certification Examinations and as an examiner for the Vascular Certifying Examination. He serves as a reviewer for many peer-reviewed publications, including the Journal of Vascular Surgery, Annals of Vascular Surgery, Circulation, JAMA Surgery, and the New England Journal of Medicine.

Dr. Robinson is passionate about the education of surgical trainees and students. In addition to providing clinical instruction to a variety of learners through his clinical practice, he has a specific interest in advancing vascular surgical education through simulation. He has directed a variety of national and institutional vascular simulation programs for surgical students and trainees and serves as faculty at a number of other simulation training courses across the country. His research has studied the development of vascular simulation models and curricula and the impact of simulation training on vascular skill acquisition. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery. When previously on faculty at the University of Virginia, he was named to the Academy of Distinguished Educators.

Dr. Robinson’s research also focuses on the clinical outcomes and effectiveness of vascular interventions, with a particular interest in surgical and endovascular intervention for lower extremity PAD and aortic aneurysm disease.  He has been site principal investigator for a number of national device trials for lower extremity PAD and aortic aneurysm disease.

Dr. Robinson has authored or co-authored more than 80 peer-reviewed articles and books.