Robin, Donald A

School of Medicine
Research Imaging Ctr
(210) 567-8058
robind@uthscsa.edu

After receiving my Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in 1984 I joined the faculty in Speech Pathology and Audiology at the University of Iowa. The program then and is currently ranked in the top three communication sciences and disorders programs in the country. I was on the faculty at the University of Iowa from 1984-1999 during which time I rose in the ranks to Full Professor with Tenure (having received tenure in 1990). At the University of Iowa I had joint appointments in Neurology and the Neuroscience Doctoral Program. My laboratory was funded by NIH grants including being PI of a project that was part of the National Center for Voice and Speech. Funding also was provided for my work in Neurology as part of a large Program Project grant and in the form of smaller NIH grants (e.g., R03). My research at Iowa focused on the neurological bases of speech and language disorders and it was then that I developed a keen interest in motor speech disorders and more generally in motor learning. At the
University of Iowa I taught 3 courses a year at Undergraduate or Graduate levels and mentored doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows, master degree students, and undergraduate honor students. I provided service on the IRB, the tenure and promotion committee, departmental committees and on the University Grievance Committee.

In 1999 I was recruited to join the faculty at San Diego State University and The University of California, San Diego as a senior researcher to help jump start a new doctoral program, Joint Doctoral Program in Language and Communication Disorders (SDSU/UCSD). During my time in San Diego, my research focus expanded to include clinical treatment trials and in particular single subject design studies. This work was supported in part by NIH funds and in part by VA funding. I had laboratories at SDSU and at the VA hospital. I continued to mentor students at all levels (undergraduates to post-doctoral fellows) and served on numerous departmental and University committees including tenure and promotion, IRB, and student grievance.

In 2006 I was recruited to the UTHSCSA in order to build a Human Performance Division as part of the Research Imaging Center. I receive 50% of my salary from UTSA, but am mostly at UTHSCSA with time spent at the Research Imaging Center and in the Department of Neurology where I serve as the liaison to the Imaging Center and to support research of faculty, residents and medical students. I have built a Human Performance Division that is fully equipped and am integrating performance measures into imaging, many of which for the first time. For instance, I am the first person to measure movements in 3-dimensional space in real time during imaging. My work and salary are supported by 4 NIH grants and I am Co-PI on a recently funded R01. I have just received exceptional scores on a grant from the Research Council of Australia. Currently, I teach two seminars a year at UTSA, a doctoral seminar at UTHSCSA, lecture to medical students and residents, and am mentoring doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows. I currently have 4 honors students working in the Division under my direction. I serve on the Medical School Admissions committee and numerous committees in Research Imaging Center. My research focus continues to be on sensory motor mechanisms in disorders of motor control (e.g., Parkinsons Disease) and the development of behavioral treatments for speech and limb disorders. Two of the current grants use imaging to show how the brain reorganizes with behavioral treatment of speech disorders. It is the case that I am known for having introduced principles of motor learning into the field of communication sciences and disorders and integrating these principles into treatment approaches for patients with neurologically based speech (and limb) disorders.