July 2, 2018

Following an 11-month interim term, Dean Sharon Anderson has appointed David Jacoby, M.D., chair of the Department of Medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine, effective July 1. Dr. Jacoby became interim chair in August 2017, shortly after Dean Anderson – who previously held the role – was appointed dean by OHSU President Joe Robertson.

"Dr. Jacoby has demonstrated outstanding leadership over the last year, and I am confident that the Department of Medicine will continue to thrive with him as chair," said Dean Anderson. Goals for the department will be set with the dean, and Dr. Jacoby will utilize findings from internal and external reviews of the department, conducted prior to Dean Anderson's appointment as department chair in 2013, to guide direction for the department. 

The Department of Medicine is the largest of the 27 departments in the school. It has some 370 primary faculty members, 10 divisions and more than 300 affiliate faculty members in the community. Its faculty members, staff and trainees contribute in critical ways to the trifold mission of patient care, education and research.

"Since taking over from Dr. Anderson last year, I have had the pleasure of continuing several initiatives, recruiting clinical and clinician-scientist faculty, and strengthening our research, faculty development and GME programs. I am honored to become the permanent chair and to carry on this important work, and I anticipate rapid growth in all these areas," said Dr. Jacoby.

Dr. Jacoby is a graduate of Princeton University and New York Medical College and was a resident and chief resident at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. He was a pulmonary fellow at the Cardiovascular Research Institute, University of California, San Francisco, where he worked with renowned pulmonologist Dr. Jay Nadel.

He was a faculty member at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine for 13 years, rising to the rank of professor. He came to OHSU in 2003 to become head of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine and led expansion of that division in all mission areas. Dr. Jacoby won multiple house staff and graduate student teaching awards at OHSU and fostered a scientific culture in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship Program. His mentorship and leadership helped secure an NIH T32 Training Grant Multidisciplinary Research Training in Pulmonary Medicine from 2008 to the present.

In 2008, he was named director of the OHSU M.D./Ph.D. Training Program, which was recently awarded an NIH T32 Medical Scientist Training Program Grant. He is associate director for education and mentorship in the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute and directs the KL2 Training Program for the OHSU Clinical and Translational Science Award.

His research focuses on the mechanisms of virus induced asthma and the interaction of eosinophils with airway nerves, and has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1990. He has trained more than 20 graduate students and fellows, many of whom are now leaders in academia or industry research. Dr. Jacoby was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2000.

Pictured (top to bottom):

Leading with purpose: Dr. David Jacoby is chair of the Department of Medicine – the largest of the school's 27 departments.

A moment for celebration: Mary Heinricher, Ph.D., associate dean for basic research, Allison Fryer, Ph.D., associate dean for graduate studies, Dan Marks, M.D., Ph.D., professor of pediatrics, and Dr. Jacoby (left to right) pause during the Convocation and Hooding ceremonies on June 3, 2018.