Career
After qualifying as a doctor,Jacobs worked as a junior doctor at the Middlesex Hospital and at Mount Vernon Hospital. In 1984,he commenced specialist training in obstetrics and gynaecology at the Royal London Hospital and then Addenbrooke's Hospital,Cambridge,which he completed in 1990. [6]
Also in 1984,Jacobs founded The Eve Appeal (first called the Gynaecology Cancer Research Fund),a charity with the aim of raising funds for research in gynaecologic cancer. In 1985,he began a program of research into ovarian cancer screening. [2] He was subsequently Medical Director of the charity as well as Emeritus Trustee. [6] [8]
From 1990 to 1991,Jacobs received a fellowship from the Medical Research Council to research cancer genetics at Duke University. [6] He became a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1991 [9] and received a Cancer Research Campaign (now Cancer Research UK) McElwain fellowship at Cambridge University from 1992 to 1994. [6] He completed his subspecialist training in gynaecologic oncology at St Bartholomew's Hospital and the Royal Marsden Hospital in 1996,and began working as a consultant and senior lecturer at Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry in the same year. [6] Jacobs was promoted to Professor of Gynaecological Cancer at the Queen Mary University of London in 1999 [10] and was Director of the Cancer Institute and Associate Research Dean before joining University College London (UCL) in 2004 as the head of the gynaecologic oncology research department. [6] [11] [12] At UCL,Jacobs established the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Institute for Women's Health (iFWH), [12] [13] the Ugandan Women's Health Initiative (UWHI), [14] [15] [16] and the UCLH/UCL Biomedical Research Centre. [17] [18] [19] From 2009 to 2011,Jacobs was dean of the Faculty of Biomedical Sciences. [20]
After seven years,he departed from UCL in 2011 to take up the position of vice-president of the University of Manchester and the dean of its Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences. [10] He also led the Manchester Academic Health Science Centre,which partnered the university with six NHS hospitals. [21] [22] While in Manchester,Jacobs founded the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA),involving leading universities,Academic Health Science Networks and NHS trusts across the north of England. [23]
UNSW Sydney president and vice-chancellor
In 2015,Jacobs relocated from the UK to Sydney,Australia,after he was appointed president and vice-chancellor of the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney). [24] [25]
In his first year at UNSW Sydney,Jacobs launched the UNSW 2025 Strategy,a 10-year strategic plan to enhance the university's global impact and reputation. The strategy,published in October 2015 after wide-ranging consultation with the UNSW Sydney community,incorporated Jacobs’belief in universities as the drivers of societal and economic transformation. [26]
He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in 2019. [27]
Research
Jacobs initiated and was chief investigator for the following ovarian cancer research programs,which were funded by a combination of the Medical Research Council (MRC),the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR),Cancer Research UK (CRUK) and The Eve Appeal:
- UKFOCSS (UK Familial Ovarian Cancer Screening Study) [16] [28] [29]
- UKCTOCS (UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening) [16] [30]
- PROMISE (Prediction of Risk of Ovarian Malignancy Screening and Early Detection) program [31] [32]
- GCaPPS (Genetic Cancer Prediction through Population Screening) [33] [34]
Since the early 2000s,Jacobs’research programs have received approximately AUD $100 million in funding and resulted in more than 400 publications with an h-index greater than 85. [28] [35]
In May 2021,the results of the UKCTOCS were published in The Lancet. The research found that although ovarian cancer can be detected early and before women develop symptoms,this does not translate into saving lives. [30] Jacobs wrote an account of his 35-year involvement in the research in The Conversation,expressing his sadness and disappointment that the study did not find the outcome for which the research team had hoped. [36]
Jacobs is founder,non-executive director and consultant to Abcodia,a University College London spin-out company involved in biomarker discovery and development. [2] [37] [38]
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