School of Medicine

School of Medicine Dean's Biography

Dean Jacoby surrounded by department chairs and administrators
Dean Jacoby, center, leads the school with the support of outstanding department chairs and department administrators - and a close partnership with John Hunter, MD., CEO of OHSU Health, standing stage left of Dr. Jacoby.

David Jacoby, M.D.

Dean, OHSU School of Medicine
Executive Vice President, OHSU

OHSU President Danny Jacobs appointed Dr. David Jacoby dean of the School of Medicine on Dec. 12, 2022, succeeding Dean Sharon Anderson. Dr. Anderson, now retired as a Dean Emeritus, stepped down in October 2021. Dr. Jacoby served as interim dean until his appointment as permanent dean.

Dr. Jacoby received his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, his medical degree from New York Medical College, and was a resident and chief resident in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia. He then did a pulmonary fellowship at University of California, San Francisco, and a research fellowship with Dr. Jay Nadel in the UCSF Cardiovascular Research Institute.

Subsequently, Dr. Jacoby spent 13 years at Johns Hopkins, where he served as research director for the division of pulmonary and critical care, and was Firm Faculty, a designation reserved for faculty most involved in house staff education. He was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 2000 and was promoted to full professor with tenure at Johns Hopkins in 2002.

As part of the Oregon Opportunity Act in the early 2000s, Dr. Jacoby came to OHSU as chief of pulmonary and critical care in 2003, and led the expansion of that division in patient care, research and education. He became interim chair of the Department of Medicine in 2017 and permanent chair in 2018. He is professor of medicine and of chemical physiology and biochemistry, OHSU School of Medicine.

Dr. Jacoby has won multiple house staff and graduate student teaching awards at OHSU and fostered a scientific culture in the Pulmonary and Critical Care Fellowship Program. In 2008, he was named director of the OHSU M.D./Ph.D. Training Program, a position he currently holds. He is also associate director for education and mentorship and director of the KL2 training program for the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute.

His research has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1990, focusing on the mechanisms of virus-induced asthma and the interaction of eosinophils, a disease-fighting white blood cell, with airway nerves. He has trained 21 students and fellows in his lab, many of whom remain in research positions in academia and industry.

Dean Jacoby with students
Dean Jacoby retained his role as director of the M.D./Ph.D. training program when he became dean. These students are at OHSU for five to six years or more. They earn both their Ph.D. and M.D. degrees to become the most highly trained physician scientists who advance medicine from lab bench to patient bedside.