Spencer Robinson, D.O., a graduate of the University of Pikeville-Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine (KYCOM) has received the 2012 Resident of the Year award from Palmetto Health in Columbia, S.C.

Robinson, previously in Palmetto Health’s emergency medicine residency program, received a plaque, a certificate and $2,500, which has been a Palmetto Health tradition since 2002. The award not only acknowledges residents’ medical knowledge and abilities, but also recognizes their commitment to Palmetto Health’s values of compassion, dignity, excellence, integrity and teamwork.

“Even as a medical student rotating at our program, Spencer was a favorite of the emergency department staff,” said Dr. Thomas Cook, director of the emergency medicine residency program. “My entire career has been spent in academic medicine and I have worked with some amazing young physicians in that time; Spencer has generated a list of accolades that I have never encountered.”

A native of Pine Bluff, Ark., Robinson graduated from KYCOM in 2009. He also received the University of South Carolina School of Medicine’s Resident of the Year award in 2011 as voted by the medical students who rotated in emergency medicine at Palmetto Health. Having graduated from residency training, Robinson will be the first fellow enrolled in Palmetto Health’s new Emergency Medical Services fellowship program. He is married to Lauren Robinson, a medical intensive care unit nurse at Palmetto Health Richland, and they have a six-month-old son.