Noted reproductive health specialist Robert Taylor dies at 71

Robert N. Taylor, assistant dean and program director of the MD-PhD program and professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, died Jan. 22. He was 71.

A celebration of his life and legacy will take place at 11 a.m. Feb. 3 at the Saturn Club, 977 Delaware Ave., Buffalo.

Memorial gifts honoring Taylor may be made to the Robert N. Taylor MD PhD Memorial Fund for Reproductive Medicine.

Taylor was an accomplished physician-scientist, educator and clinician who had a distinguished 40-year career in medicine and reproductive health. He was among the world’s top researchers studying endometriosis, a chronic, painful and poorly understood condition that affects 5-10% of women worldwide.

Author of hundreds of scientific papers, five books and numerous book chapters, he was a prolific researcher who focused on endometriosis, human endometrial function, uterine biology and embryonic implantation. His laboratory, which had been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1987, focused on investigations of the molecular and cell biology of the human uterus and placenta.

Taylor’s most recent work examined the relationship between endometriosis lesions and pain, investigations that may lead to new therapeutic targets for the condition.

Those who knew Taylor, whether as a researcher, clinician or educator, speak of him as a kind, generous and empathetic mentor and colleague. Those qualities extended to his personal motivations for conducting research. In a talk at a conference where most audience members were endometriosis patients, he told them: “I am a scientist and a physician, and because I am a scientist that means I work for all of you. My job is to actually try to advance where medicine is these days.” 

A recipient of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Distinguished Researcher Award, Taylor was a frequent lecturer, both nationally and internationally.

He joined the Jacobs School faculty in 2020 as an assistant dean and program director of the MD-PhD program, for which he was a strong advocate.

A board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and reproductive endocrinologist,

Taylor served on executive committees of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the NIH Reproductive Scientist Development Program and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He was a past honorary secretary of the World Endometriosis Society and past president of the Society for Reproductive Investigation.

He had previously led the MD-PhD program at the University of Utah School of Medicine, where he also held positions as professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and as research director of the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility.

Prior to that he was professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Wake Forest School of Medicine and co-director of its Molecular Medicine and Translational Sciences Program.

He served as the Willaford Leach/Armand Hendee Chair and Professor in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine, and as assistant, associate and professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California San Francisco.

He completed his residency and a fellowship in reproductive endocrinology, both at UC San Francisco, and also completed a research fellowship in molecular cardiovascular biology at the university’s Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Taylor received his undergraduate degree in biological sciences from Stanford University. He received his MD-PhD in the Department of Cell Biology, Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

He is survived by his wife, Sarah L. Berga, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Jacobs School.