Robert M. Jacobson

Robert Martin Jacobson (born September 20, 1958) is the chair of the Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at the Mayo Clinic and a full professor of pediatrics at the Mayo Medical School in Rochester, MN. Besides administrative responsibilities related to being chair, he 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. Jacobson co-leads the Vaccine Research Group at the Mayo Clinic with Greg Poland. He is also involved with the Clinical Research Training Program in the Mayo Medical School.

Education
Jacobson attended Warren Central High School in Indianapolis, IN. He received his B.S. in Chemistry in 1980 from Butler University also in Indianapolis, IN. He then attended the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago receiving his M.D. in 1984. He then spent five years in the New Haven, CT 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. Jacobson also completed a two year fellowship at the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program in clinical epidemiology at Yale University before accepting a position at the Mayo Clinic.

Mayo Clinic
Jacobson arrived in Rochester, MN in 1989 to practice pediatrics and perform vaccine research at the Mayo Clinic. Since then, he has published over 75 research papers in academic and medical journals. Immunization and epidemiology continue to be a focus in his current research which includes the genetic basis for vaccine response towards measles, mumps and rubella. His research group also focuses on anthrax and smallpox vaccines, which are directed against bioterrorism. 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 permanent chair.