| Man
of Action
Dr. Julius Jacobson, G’48, is the father of vascular
microsurgery. But that’s just for starters. Like Ben
Franklin, he has only to see a challenge to address it, and
the 83-year-old physician doesn’t let age stand in
the way.
In 1947, when he first became involved with microsurgery,
the dissecting microscope was the instrument of choice. Used
for surgery on the eye and other small areas, it allowed
surgeons to operate on tiny structures. For work on blood
vessels, though, the surgeon and an assistant both had to
view the surgery in progress. Jacobson needed a two-person
surgical microscope. So he built it himself.
Once his prototype “diploscope” was ready, he
approached American corporations. “The inevitable question,
Can we sell 10,000? came up,” he remembers, “and
nothing happened.” Germany’s Carl Zeiss was interested,
so the inventor made the trip to post-war Germany, where
he worked with Zeiss optical engineers to create a surgical
tool of such significance that the original now resides at
the Smithsonian. With the diploscope, effective treatments
for “blue babies,” dismembered limbs, and other
maladies were suddenly available, and the field of vascular
microsurgery took off. “Many more than 10,000 have
been sold,” he notes pointedly.
Original thinking, Jacobson says, is the most important
thing in the world. For him, it’s a way of life. Right
now, for example, he’s seeking the venture capital
for a new high-tech idea he calls “24/7 medicine.”
“ All my life, I’ve gotten calls in the middle
of the night about patients. There’s a monitor by every
bed at the ICU, but the content isn’t written down
or saved. My idea is to provide 24/7 medicine by allowing
doctors to access saved content from the monitor, observe
the patient, and conduct a videoconference with the doctor
on call—all from a distance.” Other projects
in the wings include a failsafe walker for the elderly and
an internal thermometer for overheated athletes.
To spur others to innovate, he’s endowed the Jacobson
Innovation Award of the American College of Surgeons. The
award honors living surgeons who develop new tools or techniques
that advance any field of surgery. Winners have included
surgeons who made breakthroughs in laparoscopic surgery and
kidney transplantation.
Through his patients, many of whom owe life and limb to
his surgical expertise, Jacobson has received a behind-the-scenes
entrée to the worlds of art and music. As with technology,
interest led to enthusiasm—and enthusiasm to action.
One patient offered Jacobson a painting he admired as a
reward for a successful operation and started the surgeon
down the road to serious art collecting. Today, in his New
York City apartment, Jacobson points out works by Degas,
Bruegel, Bonnard, Redon, and others.
Another patient with connections to the classical-music
community, ran into Jacobson at a concert. Listening to the
surgeon’s well informed opinions about the program,
the patient joked that Jacobson should write a book. It took
about a year for him to create The Classical Music Experience,
a CD-book combo narrated by Kevin Kline. He’s now at
work on volume two.
Julius Jacobson no longer performs surgery and has retired
from his position as chief of cardiac surgery at Mount Sinai
Hospital. As for the rest of his projects—
he’s only just begun.
Lisa Jo Rudy is a freelance writer and consultant based
in Elkins Park, PA. |
