Saving Our Skin

Perry Robins, MD, saved our skin—literally.

The world-renowned surgeon pioneered new medical techniques to take on an enemy of unimaginable power: the sun. At a time when most people worshipped a sun-kissed glow, the message Dr. Robins spread had the power to affect every human being on the planet.

Born in Newark during the Great Depression, Perry Robins never had it easy, but he always made the best of it. Struggling in school with dyslexia and grueling part-time jobs, being drafted by the Army and sent to Korea (or so he thought) —none of the obstacles life threw his way could slow him down.

During his medical training from Germany to NYU, Dr. Robins studied a type of skin cancer surgery invented by Frederic Mohs, MD, at the University of Wisconsin, and became the first dermatologist to perform skin cancer surgery. Despite fervent resistance to his methods and ideas, Dr. Robins proceeded to upend conventional wisdom in the medical community by showing fellow dermatologists that they, too, could be skin cancer surgeons.

Today, about 40 percent of all doctors who specialize in Mohs surgery were either trained by Dr. Robins or by the doctors he trained. The Skin Cancer Foundation he founded and helped raise millions for continues to spread his message, educating the public on skin cancer and the dangers of sun exposure.