News Release

A Johns Hopkins medical school graduate who was the first to employ the microscope in general surgery is using his philanthropy to assist patients globally via the Internet.

Julius H. Jacobson II, a 1952 alumnus of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, has endowed professorships in vascular surgery at Johns Hopkins, the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, and Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Medicine in Jerusalem.

His contributions have also provided for monthly audio-visual conferences over the Internet that link the staffs of the three institutions. Some 60 vascular surgeons participate in the sessions, where a case is presented and alternative treatment techniques are discussed. This collaboration, he hopes, will advance surgical outcomes, research and teaching at these top medical centers and beyond.

A dedication ceremony on Wednesday, April 30, at Johns Hopkins [see end of release for details] will celebrate the establishment of the university's Julius H. Jacobson II, M.D., Professorship in Vascular Surgery. Bruce A. Perler, director of the Division of Vascular Surgery at Johns Hopkins, will be installed as the first holder of the professorship.

"I was very fortunate to have a superb education that led to a rewarding career," said Jacobson, who is Distinguished Service Professor at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "By linking these three fine centers, I hope to give back to the institutions and profession that nurtured me, and at the same time advance the field of vascular surgery for the ultimate benefit of patients worldwide."

"I am profoundly honored and humbled to be the first holder of the Julius Jacobson Professorship at Johns Hopkins," said Perler, who has served as director of the Vascular Noninvasive Laboratory at The Johns Hopkins Hospital since 1982.

"When you consider Dr. Jacobson's incredible career as an internationally renowned surgeon, researcher, and teacher who put a premium on innovative techniques, it seems to me an extraordinary privilege to have my name linked with his in this way," Perler said.

Edward D. Miller Jr., Baker Dean of the Medical Faculty and chief executive officer of Johns Hopkins Medicine, said Jacobson's philanthropy dovetails exactly with Johns Hopkins' mission. "His commitment in philanthropy, just as in his own career, is to resources that will advance our knowledge through research, enhance patient care by the application of that knowledge, and train our future leaders in medicine to pursue innovation," Miller said.

Jacobson, known as Jack, has just supplemented his exceptional medical career with the publication of a book with CDs entitled The Classical Music Experience: Discover the Music of the World's Greatest Composers.

A native of Toledo, Ohio, Jacobson is the grandson of physicians. His grandfather was a nationally prominent surgeon and his grandmother was the first woman graduate of the McGill University medical school. By 19, Jacobson was a University of Toledo graduate and a Navy veteran. He earned his M.D. from Johns Hopkins in 1952 and served his seven-year residency in general and thoracic surgery at New York's Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital.

He became director of surgical research at the University of Vermont, where his earlier experience with microscopes in cell physiology led to his becoming the first surgeon to bring a microscope into the operating room for the entire range of surgery beyond the eye and ear.

Jacobson's work led to such advances as coronary artery surgery and limb reimplantation; it is estimated that today one half of all neurosurgical operations utilize microsurgical techniques. He also developed the first microscope that allowed the surgeon and first assistant to view the operative field simultaneously. This "Diploscope" is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution.

Jacobson and his wife, Joan, besides endowing the three vascular surgery professorships, have endowed a professorship at the Harvard School of Public Health and an annual Innovation Award given by the American College of Surgeons. They have also established an endowment supporting an annual conference on research initiatives in vascular disease, sponsored by the Lifeline Foundation of the Society of Vascular Surgery.

A photo of Julius H. Jacobson is available upon request and can be sent electronically. E-mail Dennis O'Shea at dro@jhu.edu.

The ceremony dedicating the Jacobson Professorship of Vascular Surgery at Johns Hopkins will be held on Wednesday, April 30, at 5 p.m. in the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Center, 601 N. Caroline St., Plaza Level, 2nd Floor Conference Area. To attend, please call Dennis O'Shea at 410-516-7160 or e-mail dro@jhu.edu.

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