Robin Patel, M.D., Recognized with Named Professorship

Robin Patel, M.D., has been recognized with the distinction of a named professorship: the Elizabeth P. and Robert E. Allen Professorship in Individualized Medicine.

About Dr. Patel
Dr. Robin Patel joined the staff of Mayo Clinic in Rochester in 1996. She is a Consultant in the Division of Clinical Microbiology, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, with a joint appointment in the Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine. She holds the academic rank of Professor of Microbiology and Medicine and is Chair of the Division of Clinical Microbiology.

Dr. Patel also serves as Director of the Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory at Mayo. She is the Director of Diagnostics and MASTERMIND (MASTER protocol for evaluating Multiple INfection Diagnostics) for the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group of the National Institutes of Health, and she is a council member of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Dr. Patel is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and an associate editor for the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Clinical Infectious Diseases.

Dr. Patel’s research specialties include experimental animal models of infection, antimicrobial resistance, microbial biofilms, prosthetic joint infection, and clinical microbiology diagnostic testing. Her research team studies biofilms, which cause a large number of infections in modern clinical practice, such as prosthetic joint infection and cardiovascular infections. They are researching the process of biofilm formation and resistance of biofilms to antibiotics, and they are developing new and improved diagnostic tools and treatment strategies for biofilm-associated infections.

About the Benefactors
After a 40-year career, Mr. Robert Allen retired as chair and CEO of AT&T in 1998. Under his leadership, the company evolved from a highly regulated utility to a successful competitor in the communications industry. In 1995, Mr. Allen made the decision to restructure AT&T into three companies, one of which is the very successful Lucent Technologies. Mr. Allen served as a public trustee of Mayo Clinic from 1995 to 2008. The Allens have been loyal Mayo Clinic patients since 1995 and have supported many funding areas.

Together, Mr. and Mrs. Allen have five children and several grandchildren. Mr. Allen passed away in fall of 2016.

Congratulations to Dr. Patel
Dr. Patel is the first recipient of the Elizabeth P. and Robert E. Allen Professorship in Individualized Medicine.

Endowed professorships help ensure that Mayo Clinic will continue to offer the very best in patient care, biomedical research, and medical education. Through the generosity of grateful benefactors, endowments through named professorships provide a permanent stream of support to advance programs in patient care, education, and research.

Congratulations to Dr. Robin Patel on this named professorship, the highest academic distinction for our faculty members at Mayo Clinic.

Gina Chiri-Osmond

Gina Chiri-Osmond is a Marketing Channel Manager at Mayo Clinic Laboratories.