George Douglas Robb

Sir George Douglas Robb (1899–1974) was a New Zealand surgeon, medical reformer, writer, and university chancellor. He was educated at the Auckland Grammar School and at the University of Otago (MB ChB). Robb had a reputation as something of a maverick and a rebel against the conventional medical establishment, as is discussed in a chapter in Brian Easton's book The Nationbuilders.

Robb was influential in the formation of the Auckland Medical School as part of the University of Auckland.

Robb was a close friend of the New Zealand poet and writer A. R. D. Fairburn, whose To a Friend in the Wilderness was dedicated to Robb, as was the following limerick:


 * There once was a surgeon named Robb
 * Who would take on the trickiest job
 * Put a zip in your foreskin
 * Sew on some more skin
 * Or screw up your nuts for a bob

Douglas Robb died in his sleep on the morning of his 74th birthday.