Executive biographies:
Elizabeth A. Jacobs, M.D., M.A.P.P., F.A.C.P.

Photograph of Elizabeth A. Jacobs Elizabeth A. Jacobs is Associate Professor of Medicine and Population Health Sciences and Vice Chair for Health Services Research in the Department of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She attended medical school at the University of California at San Francisco and trained as a general internist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She completed a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Fellowship and a Masters in Public Policy at the University of Chicago.

After struggling to care for limited English-speaking patients during medical school and residency, she decided to pursue a research career investigating minority disparities in health care. Dr. Jacobs’ research interests include access to, and cultural specificity of, medical care delivered to minority patients, the impact of interpreter service interventiosn on the cost and quality of healthcare, health literacy, and the role that trust in health care plays in racial/ethnic disparities in health care. Her research has been supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The California Endowment, The Russell Sage Foundation and the Office of Minority Health.

She is recognized as an expert on the provision of linguistically accessible and culturally competent care and has served on Office of Minority Health, Joint Commission, and AHRQ expert panels. She has published numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and has authored three book chapters. In addition, she works with other investigators to design culturally specific research, and teaches residents and medical students about practicing culturally sensitive medicine.