IN REMEMBRANCE : Gordon Tobin , MD January 6 , 1943 – January 30 , 2024
The great philosopher , Socrates believed that the ultimate goal of human life is to not just live , but to live a good , meaningful and VIRTUOUS life . Socrates defined a good life as one according to VIRTUE . Anyone that knows Dr . Tobin , knows that he was above all else , a “ MAN of VIRTUE .”
Dr . Gordon Tobin has been an absolute giant in academic plastic surgery at the University of Louisville for almost 50 years . Dr . Tobin was Dr . Weiner ’ s first faculty recruit to the UofL plastic surgery program in 1976 . They both trained in plastic surgery at the University of Arizona . When Dr . Weiner retired , Dr . Polk promoted Dr . Tobin to Chief of Plastic Surgery , which he held from 1995-2005 , over 10 years . In 2007 , when I came to be chief of Plastic Surgery at UofL , I remember complimenting all Dr . Tobin ’ s accomplishments and asking Dr . Tobin when he was going to retire . With a bigger than life smile , he boldly replied , “ NEVER .” He was a man of his word . He enjoyed his work ; he enjoyed his life of helping others . He was selfless .
Dr . Tobin was born in Twin Falls Idaho , Jan . 6 , 1943 . He was valedictorian of his high school class and went on to graduate from Whitman College and then University of California School of Medicine in San Francisco . Dr . Tobin was prideful of his training and heritage in plastic surgery , which included general surgery at the University of California San Francisco and University of Arizona , Plastic Surgery at University of Arizona ( with the esteemed
Dr . Erle Peacock ) and an additional Plastic Surgery fellowship at the University of Miami ( with the most revered plastic surgeon in our time … Dr . Ralph Millard ). Dr . Tobin brought many new techniques to the University of Louisville including tangential burn excision , of which he was proud .
Along the way , Dr . Tobin made so many meaningful contributions to our field of plastic surgery , it is hard to recognize them all , as he produced over 300 scientific and academic publications . His resume rivals the thickness of a phone book .
He made landmark discoveries with muscle flaps , functional muscle flaps and split muscle flaps . His focus was on preservation of function while utilizing muscle flaps to reconstruct challenging defects . He became the national expert for sternal and thoracic reconstruction and pioneered muscle flap techniques that preserved chest and pectoralis function , known as the “ Tobin pectoralis technique .” Dr . Tobin applied similar principles to abdominal wall and pelvic reconstruction with the rectus muscle ultimately describing “ the Tobin VRAM tech ” of vaginal vault reconstruction . It was no surprise that Dr . Tobin chose the most challenging areas in plastic surgery to focus his expertise . The residents ’ folk story on Dr . Tobin , is that he is such a technical genius “ he could literally make muscle flaps sing .” You probably have heard of the horse whisperer ; well Dr . Tobin was the “ muscle flap whisperer .”
He was the Master Surgeon .
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