Blacks@Dartmouth 1775 to 1960

Robert S. Wilkinson, Jr., a retired physician and Professor Emeritus of Clinical Medicine at The George Washington University has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Doctors for dedication, achievements, and leadership as a physician and health educator.

Dr. Wilkinson received his undergraduate education at Dartmouth College graduating in 1950 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. He attended medical school at New York University earning an M.D. in 1955. He did his internship at King’s County Hospital in Brooklyn after which he served as a Captain in the U.S. Army Medical Corps. and was stationed in Darmstadt, Germany. After discharge from the army in 1958, Dr. Wilkinson resumed his post-graduate training in internal medicine at the Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, New York. In addition to his residency, he received a Cardiology Fellowship which involved research in electrocardiography. This work resulted in five published articles as a co-author in peer-reviewed journals.

In 1962, Dr. Wilkinson received an appointment as a Staff Physician at Group Health Association in Washington, DC at which time he joined the volunteer faculty at The George Washington University as a clinical instructor and attending physician at the University Hospital. He resigned from GHA to enter private practice in 1968. He has remained on the faculty at GW since 1962 and was appointed Professor Emeritus of Clinical Medicine in 2007.

Currently, Dr. Wilkinson leads a group of retired physicians who teach bedside diagnostic skills to third-year students during their Internal Medicine Rotation at the University Hospital. In 1996, Dr. Wilkinson received a faculty appointment at Georgetown University and became an Attending Physician at the University Hospital in 1997.

Dr. Wilkinson received the Alpha Omega Alpha Volunteer Clinical Faculty Award from The George Washington University Chapter in 2009 and the Outstanding Volunteer Clinical Teacher Award from the American College of Physicians in 2016. He also served as President of the Academy of Medicine of Washington, DC from 1998 to 2000.

Dr. Wilkinson retired from private practice in 2006. In recognition of his career, he received the John F. Maher Memorial Laureate Award from the DC Chapter of the American College of Physicians in 1999, and the Chapter Leadership Award in 2019. He also received the New York University School of Medicine Alumni Leadership Award in 2006. He became a Fellow of the American College of Physicians in 1977 and a Master of the ACP in 2004.

Following retirement, Dr. Wilkinson was a volunteer at the Mercy Health Clinic providing care to medically indigent patients. In 2016, he received the Dr. James A. Ronan Excellence in Medical Care Award for Exemplifying the Professionalism, Dedication, and Compassion of the Mercy Health Clinic.