Robbins was born in Laurel, Mississippi, and raised by his maternal grandparents, where he spent much of his childhood at the local community college, where his grandfather was a math professor.

[3] During his time at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Robbins maintained active roles in a variety of public and professional service, including serving on the education committee for the American Association for Thoracic Surgery and the strategic planning committee for the American Heart Association.

Robbins a vote of “no confidence” due, in part, to the university leadership’s inaction regarding a violent student who would go on to fatally shoot a professor in October of 2022.

[10] This was followed by his decision in December 2023 to enact hiring freezes, eliminate the Salary Increase Program and Pay Structure Increase for staff and faculty and Tuition Guarantee Program for students, and restrict purchasing by university departments due to the University of Arizona’s poor financial position.

Robbin's publications include more than 300 peer-reviewed journal articles, spanning a variety of research topics including the investigation of stem cells for cardiac regeneration, cardiac transplant allograft vasculopathy, bioengineered blood vessels, and automated vascular anastomotic devices.