Dr. Phil Robinson grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is a board certified veterinarian who began his training as a wildlife biologist at Michigan State University. His graduate work was sponsored by the World Wild Life Fund and was carried out in the West African rainforests of Liberia and Sierra Leone. He collaborated in the field feasibility studies that led to the establishment of Sapo National Park in eastern Liberia.

After graduating veterinary school at Michigan State University he completed an internship at the San Diego Zoo and San Diego Wild Animal Park. He became a staff veterinarian at the San Diego Zoo and then served as Director of Veterinary Services for ten years. Subsequently, he became associate director and then director of Veterinary Services and Animal Resources for the University of California, San Diego, where he was responsible for a large biomedical research and training program.

Dr. Robinson has published numerous papers on the clinical problems of zoological species and on wildlife conservation in West Africa. He is a past president of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians and a founding member of the American College of Zoological Medicine, the board specialty for zoo and wildlife medicine.