A Doctor’s Faith Healed by Patients | Dr. Robert Collins | Episode #199

Robert H. Collins Jr., M.D., FACP, is a Professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of its Division of Hematology and Oncology, joins the BeatiDudes, a highly qualified group of businessists and improvasationalsts. How appropriate that this episode was recorded on the World Day of Healing as Dr. Collins shares how his patients healed his faith.

The youngest and only boy of four siblings, Dr. Collins grew up in St. Louis. Raised Baptist, Dr. Collins began questioning Christianity and left his faith completely as a teenager. Dr. Collins completed a six-year medical school program at the University of Missouri-Kansas City before meeting his wife, Lynn, in Texas while at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas.

Early in his career, Dr. Collins served his patients well but mentally viewed them as cases. Then, as he continued expanding his knowledge of medicine and science, he thought, “Isn’t this just a little too amazing to have just happened?” This moment changed his life, and it put him on a new path of exploration and research. Being guided by the Holy Spirit, he read his way to Christianity and experienced his way to Catholicism. He was affected by his patients and the books he was reading, including Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

Paul Kolker, Nick Bezner, Jeff Schiefelbein, and Dr. Robert Collins end the show by testing their knowledge in a quiz of medical terms versus made-up terms.  

Robert H. Collins Jr., M.D., FACP, is a Professor of Internal Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and a member of its Division of Hematology and Oncology. He serves as Director of the Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy Program and the Combined Adult/Pediatric Stem Cell Transplant Program.

A recognized leader in the field of adoptive immunotherapy and molecular-targeted therapy, Dr. Collins specializes in hematologic malignancies, including leukemia, lymphoma, and myelodysplastic syndrome. Dr. Collins earned his medical degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. He completed an internal medicine residency at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, as well as a fellowship in hematology and oncology at the University of California Los Angeles. Board-certified in internal medicine and medical oncology, Dr. Collins has 35 years of experience in bone marrow transplantation and has participated in some 3,000 autologous and allogeneic transplants.