Born in Portland and raised in Anacortes, Dr. Pinson is part of six generations who have called this coastal community home. His father was delivered by Dr. Sam Brooks (Island Health’s Birth Center is named after Dr. Sam Brooks’ son, Dr. Thomas Brooks) then continued on and served as the town’s mayor from 1952 – 1957. Pinson’s own story was shaped by the Anacortes schools, the surrounding forest lands, and the community where he met his future wife in the fifth grade. By sophomore year, they were dating. He graduated from Anacortes High School in 1963 and always knew he wanted to return home.
After attending dental school in Oregon and serving in the Navy, he completed his residency in oral and facial surgery at Georgetown, where he became Chief Resident and trained at D.C. General Hospital, Georgetown Hospital and the VA Hospital, Dr. Pinson came back to Anacortes in 1975. He joined the medical staff at Island Health and performed his first case in August of that year—treating a young woman injured in a car accident.
From that moment on, Dr. Pinson dedicated himself to providing expert care close to home. He was the first dentist in Washington to serve as Chief of Surgery, holding the role for both Island and Whidbey hospitals starting in 1981. At the time, the hospitals shared a medical staff. He practiced from 1975 until his retirement in 2011, and for more than 30 of those years, he was the region’s first call for facial trauma—on call 24/7, serving Island Hospital, Whidbey General, Skagit Valley Hospital, and United General Hospital.
Dr. Pinson witnessed the evolution of modern medicine firsthand. He saw dramatic decreases in facial trauma after the introduction of chest belts and air bags, and he marveled at the advent of laparoscopic and robotic surgeries. But for him, the heart of medicine was always personal: “You’re taking care of friends and neighbors,” he said. “That thought process is particularly evident at Island Hospital (Health).”
Island Health, he says, has always been ahead of the curve—well-equipped, well-staffed, and driven by a spirit of collaboration. It was his favorite place to operate, with OR teams and nurses who shared his dedication to excellence. Even after retirement, he returned in 2018 for surgery himself. Dr. Mulcahy removed a 3cm GIST tumor laparoscopically. “The care was excellent,” he recalled. “By the next day, I was walking the halls.” In 2019, when he developed bilateral blood clots a week after following robotic prostate surgery at Virginia Mason Hospital, the care team at Island Health treated him swiftly—avoiding a transfer to Seattle. “The nurses taking care of you. You know them and their kids,” he said. “That makes all the difference.”
For Dr. Pinson, giving back has always been part of being in medicine. He volunteered as a Maxillofacial Surgeon aboard the Africa Mercy Ship in Guinea and the Congo in 2013 and later became an associate professor at UW Medical and Harborview, where he helped train residents and ran an outpatient clinic for over a year. He also quietly donated more than $500,000 in unreimbursed care over the last twenty years of his practice.
He recalls powerful moments from his career—the young man with a bone marrow transplant who suffered a facial artery erosion. Nurses called him in, knowing he could stop the bleeding, and he did—saving the man’s life. Another time, a man at the Red Lion Tavern took a 2×4 to the face, breaking his jaw and getting a concussion. Dr. Pinson, also known at the local basketball courts, examined him in the ICU, the man turned to his mother and asked “What is Doc doing here?” His mom said, “he is the doctor who is treating your broken jaw.” He replied, “So that is why they call him ‘Doc’ at basketball.”
Whether in an ICU or a basketball game, where a 13-year-old girl once thanked him for repairing her severe facial lacerations so well from a dog attack at age 3, Dr. Pinson’s impact has rippled through the Anacortes community for decades.
Today, he remains a grateful patient and a steadfast advocate for Island Health. “What community hospitals mean to people,” he says, “can’t be overstated. Island is where I would choose to be—always.”