Dr. Robin Felder is a Professor of Pathology and Associate Director of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dr. Felder received his BS in Chemistry from the College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA) and his PhD in Biochemistry from Georgetown University (Washington, DC). He spent a year in post-doctoral training at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD) and in 1998, a year of sabbatical training under Professor Bernard Rossier, in Lausanne, Switzerland. Dr. Felder has distinguished himself in two areas of research, automation and hypertension.
Wellness – Dr. Felder has been involved in personalized wellness research and education for over 20 years. In 2000 he initiated a wellness monitoring research group that developed a number of passive monitoring sensors and associated web based caregiver tool that has been clinically tested, and was subsequently commercialized with over 6,000 monitored individuals. He also co-organized and chaired the Medical Automation International Conference which has focused on wellness and a shift in the way health care will be delivered to that of a system that is based in the home and is personal, predictive, and passive. <http://www.medicalautomation.org>.
Medical Automation – He is considered one of the early pioneers in clinical laboratory robotics and automation and has been awarded 20 patents. In automation he has published over 150 papers, reviews, and chapters, and served as co-editor of three textbooks on various aspects of medical automation. He served as the founding Director of the Medical Automation Research Center (MARC) from 2002-2008. He was also the founder of the Association for Laboratory Automation (now called SLAS) and founding editor of its journal, the Journal of the Association for Laboratory Automation (JALA) (now called SLAS Technology and SLAS Discovery). 6,000 registrants participated in the 2017 meeting. His automation research has been funded by the NIH, NSF, and various biomedical companies. He has been awarded the Manitoba Society of Clinical Chemistry Lectureship Award, the Engelberger Award for Leadership in Robotics (2009), and the Award for Excellence in an area of Research from both the American Association for Clinical Chemistry and National Academy for Clinical Biochemistry (2010). Dr. Felder was also awarded the University of Virginia’s first Innovator of the Year award in 2012.
Basic Biomedical Research – Dr. Felder also has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1984 for his work on the etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of hypertension and salt sensitivity. In hypertension he has published over 200 peer reviewed papers, reviews, and chapters. He has been recognized for his contributions to this field by receiving awards from the American Physiological Society, The American Federation for Clinical Research, The Association for Clinical Scientists, The American Association for Clinical Chemistry and National Academy for Clinical Biochemistry.
Non-institutional pursuits – Robin has been a pewter smith for over 30 years crafting a variety of items in his workshop which are sold locally in Charlottesville gift shops. In addition, Robin is an avid organic pear, peach, and apricot farmer and master distiller. He is working to expand commercial pear farming in Virginia by expanding the number of blight resistant pear trees and rare Indian blood peaches and capturing their essences in the form of a brandy (eau-de-vie) in his commercial craft distillery (Monte Piccolo Farm and Distillery).
Commercial pursuits – In addition to his academic career, Dr. Felder has co-founded 9 private ventures spun out from the University of Virginia, including Medical Automation Systems (point of care management tools): http://www.medicalautomation.com, Global Cell Solutions (regenerative medicine biotech): Hypogen (pharmaceutical company); LabAutomation (now SLAS) http://SLAS.org, Medical Automation (non-profit educational organization) , http://medicalautomation.org, Well Aware Systems (personalized medicine) acquired by Quiet Care Inc., and recently by GreatCall.com, BioPhile (automated -80C biorepository, now part of Hamilton Automation Storage Solutions), BlinkBit (minimally invasive diabetes monitoring), Medical Robotics (medical automation consulting), and Medical Automation Research Institute (MARI). Several of Dr. Felder’s inventions and commercially available instruments were named a top 10 pick by the Scientist Magazine in 2010 and 2012. Dr. Felder has also received several local entrepreneurial awards such as the Charlottesville Navigator, Rocket, Founder and Business Plan, awards.