Francis Robicsek Accomplishments

Dr. Francis Robicsek has practiced medicine for over sixty four years after starting his career when he graduated from the Semmelweis Orvostudomanyl Egyetem, Budapest, Hungary in 1950.(Webmd,n.d.)”He moved to Charlotte, NC in 1956 after escaping an anti-communist revolution in his native Hungary.”(Garloch,2013,para.16) Since arriving in Charlotte he has made many accomplishments including performing thousands of operations that included Charlotte’s first open-heart surgery and first heart transplant surgery.(Garloch,2013)Even though he stopped operating almost fifteen years ago he hasn’t stopped, he continues to pour “his energy into equipping and funding clinics in developing countries.”(Bird, 2011, para.1)

“His love affair with Central America

Robicsek’s accomplishments are as numerous as they are diverse” ("World Affairs Council of Charlotte," n.d.) and too numerous to name in this paper, so we will just name a few. In 1975 he helped establish and open heart surgery and sustainable cardiac program in Guatemala. ("Heineman Medical Research | Heineman Foundation of Charlotte," n.d.) “He was elected citizen of the year in the state of North Carolina in 1976 and provided surgical assistance and training to several foreign countries, provided equipment and help build hospitals in many third world countries.” ("World Affairs Council of Charlotte”, n.d.para.8) He was listed in The Best Doctors in America in both 1995 and 1996.He has published seven books and has written over 600 papers in medicine, anthropology and bioengineering, and has presented more than 500 lectures at national and international meetings.” ("World Affairs Council of Charlotte," n.d.,para. 7) He was listed among the 100 Carolinians of the Century by the Charlotte Observer in 1999. ("World Affairs Council of Charlotte," n.d.) In 2007 he was awarded the World Citizen Award. ("World Affairs Council of Charlotte,"

Robicsek’s “work is through the Heineman Foundation of Charlotte, a non- profit organization that was formed by the Heineman Medical Research Incorporated Group in 1943. Dr. Robicsek was recruited by the Heineman Foundation in 1956 and following his recruitment the organization was defined as the cutting edge of cardiovascular medicine and research in the Carolinas.("Heineman Medical Research | Heineman Foundation of Charlotte," n.d.) ”In 1968 Robicsek took the helm of both Heineman Medical Research Laboratory and the partnership which he then renamed the “Sanger Clinic”(since renamed Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute )Research conducted at Heineman was procedurally implemented at Sanger Heart and Vascular Institute into clinical practice. The seamless cooperation between the two organizations led to one procedural “first” after another, and Sanger became one of the leading cardiac groups in the Southeast.” ("Heineman Medical Research | Heineman Foundation of Charlotte,"