Vascular Disease Foundation Seeks Nominations for Jacobson Award

January 25, 2011—The Vascular Disease Foundation announced that February 11 is the deadline to submit nominations for the 2011 Julius H. Jacobson II Award for Physician Excellence. Information about the Jacobson Award and nomination applications are available on the Vascular Disease Foundation's Web site at www.vdf.org.

According to the Vascular Disease Foundation, the Jacobson Award recognizes outstanding contributions to physician education, leadership, or patient care in vascular disease. Candidates for the Jacobson Award will be screened by a committee of peers who are independent of Dr. Jacobson. Nomination criteria are:

• Must be a licensed physician in good standing
• Must have made significant contributions that have advanced the science or clinical practice for the prevention and treatment of vascular disease, or have made exceptional contributions to vascular education programs, either for health care professionals or patients
• Must be a person of recognized personal and professional integrity
• Must not be a current member of the Board of Directors of the Vascular Disease Foundation

The award is endowed through a donation from Dr. Jacobson, who is a pioneer in microsurgery and was the first physician to bring a microscope into the operating room. His work led to such advances as coronary artery surgery and limb reimplantation. Dr. Jacobson also developed the first microscope that allowed surgeons and the first assistant to view the operative field simultaneously.

The 2010 Jacobson Award recipient was Jack L. Cronenwett, MD, Professor of Surgery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Dr. Cronenwett ran a vascular surgery fellowship for many years and was one of the first program directors to initiate an integrated vascular residency in which residents are recruited to spend 5 years in vascular residency just after graduation from medical school. He also served as President of the Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery and was responsible for putting together the modern curriculum in the specialty. More information about Dr. Cronenwett is available on the VDF's Jacobson Award Web site.