When Robbie Caddell Franks ’83 arrived at UNCG in 1979, she followed the example of her aunt, Gay Williams Martin ’74, a nursing graduate whose stories of compassionate care prompted Franks to pursue the same path.
“My aunt was an inspiration to me and a trusted person in my life,” Franks says. “I knew early on that I wanted to become a nurse, and she told me there was nowhere to go but UNCG. She helped shepherd me through the application process and came with me to orientation. I received a scholarship from my high school and later benefited from nursing school grants that helped me graduate. That support is a major reason I want to pay it forward for someone else.”
Franks’ nursing career spanned bedside nursing, healthcare education, pharmaceutical research, and clinical trial leadership. She began her nursing career in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at the Durham VA Medical Center and later became a clinical research associate in pharmaceutical and biotechnology clinical trials, where she promoted patient safety in the development of safe, effective vaccines, including COVID-19. She describes Operation Warp Speed, the federal public-private partnership to accelerate COVID-19 vaccine development, manufacturing, and distribution, as one of the most demanding and rewarding times in her career. She sometimes worked 20 hours a day, coordinating the monitoring group whose staff went into the field to review the vaccine study data being collected across the United States. “Despite the intense pressure we were under, patient safety remained our top priority, and it was an incredible team effort,” she says. “It was very gratifying to watch from home as federal regulators in the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) subcommittee hearing discussed authorizing the vaccine for people as young as 16.”
In 2020, Franks turned her gratitude for a remarkable nursing career into a lasting impact by establishing the Gay Williams Martin Endowed Scholarship. Following the unexpected death of her husband, Marc Franks, in 2023, she renamed the scholarship in his memory. The couple, who were together for nearly 38 years, met in high school and married shortly after she graduated from UNCG. “Marc was always my biggest cheerleader,” she says. “He was so proud of me that he cried on the day of my graduation.”
In 2024, Franks increased her scholarship pledge, strengthening the renamed Marc and Robbie Franks School of Nursing Endowed Fund, which supports undergraduate and graduate nursing students. “College is not inexpensive,” she says. “I want others to have the opportunities I had. I hope the fund allows people, whether young or older, to enter the wonderful profession I found.”
Franks’s impact extends beyond philanthropy. As a School of Nursing Advisory board member, she supports student engagement, mentoring, and retention, and is advancing a new program that pairs upper-level students with graduates and practicing nurses to encourage them through graduation.
Through her generosity, leadership, and advocacy, Franks is helping UNCG recruit and retain future nurses while ensuring that more students can build meaningful careers rooted in care, service, and opportunity.
By Jo Carol Torrez