UAMS College of Medicine trains Arkansas’ next generation of doctors, led by Dr. Robertson
byKylon Williams | Daniela Dehaghani
Sat, August 1, 2026 at 2:47 PM
Every doctor has a first patient, but before they ever put on a white coat, they have to be trained, and in Arkansas, that training starts at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. (PHOTO: UAMS)
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) —Every doctor has a first patient, but before they ever put on a white coat, they have to be trained, and in Arkansas, that training starts at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
UAMS is the state’s only medical school that grants MD degrees and serves as Arkansas’ only academic health center, training future physicians while also caring for patients and conducting advanced medical research
Dr. Ron Robertson, a nationally respected trauma surgeon who helped build Arkansas’ trauma system and has spent decades improving emergency care across the state, is stepping into a new leadership role at UAMS as dean of the College of Medicine and vice chancellor
Robertson said UAMS includes five colleges: the College of Medicine, the College of Nursing, the College of Pharmacy, the College of Health Professions, and the College of Public Health. Each has its own dean, he said, and the colleges are organized as educational units to train the next generation of health care professionals, including physicians for Arkansas
Robertson described his path to the role as rooted in the region. He said he is from southern Missouri, grew up on a farm and attended college in Fayetteville before starting at UAMS in 1985 for medical school. He completed his general surgery residency at UAMS, followed by a fellowship in trauma critical care and burns, then stayed on faculty. Robertson said he has been on faculty for 32 years
In 2013, Robertson said he became trauma medical director and helped build UAMS’ trauma program to Level 1 status. He later became chair of the Department of Surgery in 2019 before most recently being named dean of the College of Medicine
Robertson said what distinguishes an academic health center is the combination of patient care, education and research. Alongside caring for patients, he said, physicians at UAMS are also responsible for training medical students, residents and fellows, while research efforts focus on advancing treatments and curing diseases. “You wrap those things together: the clinical care, the education, the research, ultimately, that’s our mission: is to serve the people of Arkansas,” Robertson said
He said medical training has also evolved, requiring more interdisciplinary teamwork across professions such as nursing, therapy and pharmacy. He also pointed to the rising cost of technology used to train future doctors, saying robotic surgery systems used at UAMS cost about $2 million each and that the institution has five, a $10 million investment
Robertson said Arkansas’ health challenges add to the complexity of training physicians, citing higher rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer. He also pointed to physician shortages, including the need for more primary care doctors and efforts to encourage doctors to practice in rural parts of the state
