Distinguished Professor Mark Robson, center, was honored with the “Friend of Thai Sciences Award 2024” by the Office of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation at the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington, D.C.
On December 5, Rutgers Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor Mark Robson, Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Associate Vice Provost for Graduate Education, Rutgers School of Graduate Studies, was presented with the Friend of Thai Science Award 2024 in Washington, DC. Bestowed by the Office of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation at the Royal Thai Embassy, the annual award recognizes “individuals residing in the U.S., Canada or Latin America countries who have made significant contributions to Thai higher education, science, research and innovation.”
For 30 years, Robson, a Distinguished Professor in Plant Biology, has collaborated with Thai scientists in academia and government on research and teaching. His affiliation with The Kingdom of Thailand actually started in the early 1980s when he was a graduate school classmate of Dr. Prasert Chitapong, former President of Prince of Songkla University (PSU) and Senator from Songkla Province. Chitapong earned a doctoral degree at Rutgers, and, in 2012, was honored for Distinguished Achievement from the Cook Community Alumni Association.
In the 1990s, Robson was invited to develop an NIH proposal with the PSU faculty on health and environmental exposures. This initial collaboration served as the basis of Robson being invited, in 2001, to teach in the Asian Development Bank Program (ADB) in Environmental Management at Environmental Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University (ERIC). The initial collaboration included instructors from five major Thai universities. Robson continues to teach this class every year and is one of the few original instructors still teaching the program. To date, hundreds of Thai students, as well as many other students from Southeast Asia, have taken this class and are academic and governmental leaders in the Kingdom and throughout Asia.
The ERIC course is still ongoing and has had a major impact on Thai citizens by providing a cohort of trained young scientists to improve the quality of life in the Kingdom and building Thailand’s scientific capacity in health science and engineering. In January 2005, just after the Tsunami that devastated parts of Southern Thailand, Robson served as a Fulbright Senior Scientist at PSU working with its medical school to do environmental impact assessments after this event. Robson then successfully competed with Prof. Dr. Virasakdi Chongsuvivatwong at PSU, for a four-year Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Grant to build environmental health capacity in Southern Thailand and Indonesia.
Robson was the principal investigator on a seven-year NIH Fogarty International Training in Research in Environmental and Occupational Health Project (ITREOH), which was located at Chulalongkorn College of Public Health Science. Collaborating with Prof. Dr. Surasak Taneepanichskul in this project, a number of MPH and Ph.D. students were supported and trained. Robson served as co-advisor to 28 Thai graduate students.
Following the ITREOH project, Robson was a co-principal investigator with Susan Woskie from the University of Massachusetts and Professor Dr. Pornpimol Kongtip at Mahidol University for another successful in the NIH Fogarty GEOHealth Hub project. Like the ITREOH, the GEOHealth program supported MPH, PhD, and Postdoctoral scientists.
Robson’s commitment to his students continues. He maintains strong relationships with the majority of his advisees and works with them to develop their programs and advance their careers. For example, he was a keynote for the first International Conference of PHAS, “Global Health: Multi Approach for Primary Healthcare System,” in July 2024 for Faculty of Public Health and Allied Health Sciences, Praboromarajchanok Institute, for Assistant Professor Buppha Raksanam. In June, he was a featured speaker at the Department of Research and Medical Innovation, Faculty of Medicine Vajira Hospital, for former student Assistant Professor Dr. Jadsada Kunno.
In 2010, Robson was awarded an honorary doctoral degree by Chulalongkorn University for his scientific work in the Kingdom of Thailand. This was conferred upon him by HRH Crown Princess Sirindhorn. Mark refers to this as the proudest accomplishment in his academic career. Dr. Robson’s ongoing commitment to Thai science is evident in his research and training of hundreds of the brightest and most talented young scientists in the Kingdom.
