Robert Martin Jacobson (born September 20, 1958) is the medical director of the Population Health Science Program of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery.Mayo Clinic doctor profile: Jacobson, Robert M. M.D.
''Mayo Clinic''. Accessed April 14, 2013. He is a previous chair of the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at the

Mayo Clinic The Mayo Clinic () is a nonprofit American academic medical center focused on integrated health care, education, and research. It employs over 4,500 physicians and scientists, along with another 58,400 administrative and allied health staff, ...

and a full professor of

pediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...

at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine in

Rochester, Minnesota Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on rolling bluffs on the Zumbro River's south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the renowned Mayo Clinic. Acco ...

. He still regularly sees young patients as a member of the Division of Community Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. His research area is in vaccinology, with a focus on delivery, effectiveness, and adverse consequences. He is also involved with the Clinical Research Training Program in the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine, where he concentrates on teaching evidence-based medicine. From 2012 to 2014, he served as president of the Minnesota chapter of the

American Academy of Pediatrics The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is an American professional association of pediatricians, headquartered in Itasca, Illinois. It maintains its Department of Federal Affairs office in Washington, D.C. Background The Academy was founded ...

. He is a fellow of the academy.

Education

Jacobson attended Warren Central High School in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Mari ...

. He received his

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

in 1980 from Butler University also in

. He then attended the Pritzker School of Medicine at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

, receiving his

M.D. Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. T ...

in 1984. He then spent five years in the

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

, area. There he completed his internship in pediatrics, became chief resident of the Pediatric Primary Care Center and finished his three-year residency at the

Yale-New Haven Hospital Yale New Haven Hospital (YNHH) is a 1,541-bed hospital located in New Haven, Connecticut. It is owned and operated by the Yale New Haven Health System. YNHH includes the 168-bed Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven, the 201-bed Yale New Have ...

. Jacobson also completed a two-year fellowship at the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program in quantitative clinical

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

under the tutelage of Alvan R. Feinstein before accepting a position at the Mayo Clinic.

Mayo Clinic

Jacobson arrived in

in 1989 to practice pediatrics and perform vaccine research at the

. Since then, he has published 240 peer-reviewed research papers in academic medicine.PubMed listing of journal articles
Accessed December 20, 2016. He served as the director of clinical studies for the Vaccine Research Group from 1989 to 2014 where the worked focused on vaccine immunogenicity and the genetics of vaccine response, especially towards

measles Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...

mumps MUMPS ("Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System"), or M, is an imperative, high-level programming language with an integrated transaction processing key–value database. It was originally developed at Massachusetts Gener ...

and

rubella Rubella, also known as German measles or three-day measles, is an infection caused by the rubella virus. This disease is often mild, with half of people not realizing that they are infected. A rash may start around two weeks after exposure and ...

as well as vaccines directed against bioterrorism including

anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium ''Bacillus anthracis''. It can occur in four forms: skin, lungs, intestinal, and injection. Symptom onset occurs between one day and more than two months after the infection is contracted. The sk ...

and

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

vaccines. In 2000, he became the interim chair of the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine which includes the Mayo Eugenio Litta Children's Hospital and then in 2001 became the definitive chair. In 2010, he completed his term chair of the department to lead the Employee and Community Health (ECH) Research Initiative, which focuses on population-based interventions to improve patients' health. He now serves as the medical director of the Population Health Science Program of the Robert D. and Patricia E. Kern Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery, which supports research and education regarding community health best practices. He helped found the Population Health Sciences Scholars Program at the Mayo Clinic, which supports scholars who study community health.

Immunization Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an infectious agent (known as the immunogen). When this system is exposed to molecules that are foreign to the body, called ''non-sel ...

population health, and epidemiology continue to be a focus in his current research. In 2018, he was awarded the Mayo Clinic Distinguished Pediatric Career Award.

References

External links

Mayo Eugenio Litta Children's Hospital

Division of Community Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at the Mayo Clinic

Mayo Clinic Vaccine Research Group

Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at the Mayo Clinic

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacobson, Robert 1958 births American public health doctors Butler University alumni American immunologists American pediatricians Pritzker School of Medicine alumni Living people