AZBigMedia
The Banner Health Foundation announced that Arizona homebuilder, businessman and philanthropist Mr. Ira A. Fulton has endowed the Ira A. Fulton Chair in Bariatric Surgery and Metabolic Disorders with a $2 million charitable gift to the Banner Health Foundation. This is the first endowed chair to be established at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix, part of the academic medical enterprise born from the 2015 merger of Banner Health and the University of Arizona Health Network.
Robin P. Blackstone, MD, FACS, FASMBS, has been appointed the Fulton Chair. As Chief of Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery at Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix, Dr. Blackstone leads the multidisciplinary team at the Obesity and Bariatric Surgery Center. Dr. Blackstone has performed approximately 5,000 bariatric surgeries over 15 years since first establishing her practice, one of the first institutions in the United States to be recognized as a Center of Excellence by the American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.
In 2015, Dr. Blackstone moved her practice to Banner – University Medical Center Phoenix to integrate patient care, state-of-the-art research and teaching into the Diabetes and Endocrine Institute. The Institute is dedicated to combating the most complex chronic health conditions: diseases and disorders of the endocrine system, including obesity, with leading-edge, cost-effective and highly coordinated clinical care and scientific research.
