Francis
Robicsek, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Francis Robicsek
is Chairman of the Department of Thoracic and
Cardiovascular Surgery at Carolinas Medical Center;
Medical Director of the Carolinas Heart Institute;
and Professor of Surgery at the University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is certified by the
Hungarian Board of Surgery, the American Board of
Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery, the American
Board of Surgery, and the European Board of
Cardiovascular Surgery. Dr. Robicsek is originally
from Miskolc, Hungary but has lived in Charlotte,
North Carolina since 1956.
Dr. Robicsek’s
accomplishments are as numerous as they are diverse.
He is Past Governor, American College
of Cardiology of North Carolina; a member of the
Scientific Council of the Cardiothoracic Institute
of Monaco; and Past Chairman, Committee on
Medico-Legal Affairs, Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
Dr. Robicsek is a Past Examiner for the American
Board of Thoracic Surgery and is a member of many
professional societies including the American
Association for Thoracic Surgery, the Society of
Thoracic Surgeons, the American College of Surgeons,
the American Vascular Society and many more. He is
Past President of the Southern Thoracic Surgical
Society and is an Honorary Member of the German
Society of Thoracic Surgery, the Scandinavian
Society of Thoracic Surgery, most recently the
European Society for Cardio Vascular Surgery, the
Surgical Society of Guatemala, and the Surgical
Society of Costa Rica, to name a few.
Dr. Robicsek
was elected Citizen of the Year by the state of
North Carolina in 1976, and listed among the 100
Carolinians of the Century by the Charlotte
Observer in 1999. He received the Order of the
Quetzal, Rank of Commander, Guatemala, and is a
recipient of the Justus-Liebig Medal of Distinction,
Justus-Liebig University. He is an Honorary Doctor
of Humane Letters, Queens College and a member of
the James Duke Society, Duke University. He was
listed in The Best Doctors in America in 1995
and 1996. Dr.
Robicsek has published seven books and written more
than 600 papers in medicine, anthropology and
bioengineering, and has presented more than 500
lectures at national and international meetings.
Dr. Robicsek has
provided surgical assistance and training in several
foreign countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, Costa
Rica, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, Romania,
Hungary, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Macedonia,
Russia, Israel, China, Italy, France, England and
Germany. He has also provided equipment and helped
build hospitals in many third world countries.
Dr. Robicsek is an
avid collector of art and established the
Pre-Columbian collection at the Mint Museum of Art
in Charlotte, NC. He also has a noted collection of
Spanish-Colonial art, Medieval Dutch paintings and
Russian icons and has written several books on
Pre-Columbian art.
Dr. Robicsek is
married to Dr. Livia K. Robicsek and has four
children, Steven, Susanne, John and Frances, and 5
grandchildren.
The World Citizen
Award Dinner is held annually to raise funds for
programming offered by the World Affairs Council
of Charlotte and to recognize a notable
individual with ties to the Carolinas.
