When Ron Robertson, M.D., stepped into the role of Dean of the UAMS College of Medicine on May 1, he wore the “interim” label for a while before it came off. Now, a little more than 100 days into the permanent role, he says the shift has changed more than just his title.
“It’s always easier to work in a role when you know it’s yours and you can make it your own,” Robertson said. He believes the certainty has rippled through his team, too. With the interim title gone, colleagues know he’s in it for the long haul, freeing them to lay out real plans.
That confidence has been tested by a learning curve Robertson didn’t fully anticipate. After seven years as Chair of the Department of Surgery, he had that role “pretty much figured out,” he said. The Dean’s office is entirely different — “like being chair of multiple departments at once,” he said, with a faster pace and problems that rarely have a solution involving just one person or group.
What has struck him most, though, is the people.
“We have exceptional people who are very committed to our mission,” Robertson said.
It’s a mission Robertson approaches the way he has every operating room for decades: as a team sport. His trauma career was built on assembling and leading teams that function under pressure, and he sees the Dean’s role as the ultimate test of that approach — one that spans education, research, and clinical care all at once.
“Being the Dean may be the ultimate expression of teamwork,” he said. “Building, and then watching, that team thrive is what I love most about the job.”
Looking ahead, Robertson lays out a vision for strengthening the College of Medicine across all three pillars of its mission. In clinical care, that means leveraging the hospital system to widen access and improve the health of Arkansans. In education, it means building a curriculum that keeps the college competitive for top talent long into the future. In research, it means growing the portfolio across both basic science and clinical programs.
“We have huge opportunities in all three aspects of our mission and the right leadership team starting at the top,” Robertson said.
Ask him for a single defining moment in his first 100 days and Robertson points to a string of them — graduation, welcoming new students and residents, working alongside fellow deans and the leadership team. Each one, he says, sharpens his sense of what’s at stake: training excellent physicians, delivering exceptional care, and pursuing research that helps patients.
“The people of Arkansas are counting on me, and they’re counting on us to accomplish our goals.”
Through it all, Robertson hasn’t stepped out of the operating room.
“At the core of my being, I’m a surgeon, and I don’t want to lose that,” he said. Staying in clinical practice keeps him grounded in what faculty actually face day to day — insight he considers essential to leading real change.
“I love taking care of patients. I can’t imagine that not being a part of my life.”