She is a senior investigator in the skeletal biology section at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

[2] Her 1979 dissertation was titled Studies on the Collagenous Component of a Tumor Basement Membrane.

[4] Robey joined NIDCR in 1983 and established reproducible methods for culturing human bone-forming cells, in order to study the development of mineralized matrix formation.

Robey has served as a co-coordinator of the NIH Bone Marrow Stromal Cell Transplantation Center (2008-2013), and is currently the acting Scientific Director of the NIH Stem Cell Characterization Facility.

[5] Robey focuses on four main areas in skeletal cell biology:  1) determination of the characteristics and the biological properties of post-natal bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs), a subset of which are multipotent skeletal stem cells (SSCs), able to recreate cartilage, bone, cells that support blood formation and fat cells in the marrow; 2) elucidation of the role of enzymatic matrix remodeling in the maintenance of SSC function; 3) characterization of the role that BMSCs/SSCs play in skeletal diseases; and, 4) development of techniques for cartilage and bone regeneration in human patients with skeletal defects.