Joshua Jacobs

Joshua Jacobs is a physician and Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians who serves the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine at Washington State University as inaugural Chair for the Department of Medical Education and Clinical Sciences. This department is responsible for delivering all courses that lead to the MD degree and graduate certificate in Leadership, as well as clinical research in the College, across the state of Washington.

Prior to his Chairship, Dr. Jacobs led several national initiatives as a Senior Director at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). His responsibilities included oversight of the Visiting Student Application Service (VSAS), Global Health Learning Opportunities (GHLO), integration of AAMC services including MCAT, application services to medical school (AMCAS) and residency (ERAS), and several others. He held an academic appointment as Adjunct Professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and Associate Clinical Professor at the George Washington University. He served as a member of the Board of Directors of the DC chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

From 2010-2013 he was appointed Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Family Medicine at the National University of Singapore Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, where he served as Assistant Dean for Education. In his role as Assistant Dean, he directly oversaw the five-year undergraduate medical education curriculum, admissions, and education technology, and supported student affairs, faculty development, and quality assurance. He helped manage a staff of 50 people with a budget of over USD$25 million to support 1500 medical students, over 2000 clinical teaching staff at 9 public hospitals and clinics throughout the country. He also held the appointment of Senior Consultant in Family Medicine at the National University Hospital, Singapore. As part of his work, he has delivered professional training and consultations to healthcare leadership and government entities in areas pertaining to development and improvement of primary care delivery and of medical education and training programs.

He has received and participated in numerous research grants relating to patient safety, education technology, and medical education from various organizations, including the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, the Singapore Ministry of Health, and others. His other research and teaching interests include quality improvement and international medical education. He has served on the Editorial and Advisory Boards for the AAMC MedEdPORTAL; an international peer reviewed repository of multimedia medical education materials, for Medbiquitous, an international medical education standards organization, and several others. From 2010 to 2016, he held the post of e-Editor for the journals Medical Education and The Clinical Teacher. He has published widely in the international literature with over 50 peer-reviewed publications and hundreds of national and international presentations and workshops.

His other past experiences include: Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine (2000-2010); Visiting Researcher at St.Luke’s International Hospital; one of the preeminent teaching hospitals in Tokyo, Japan (2007-09); VP of Med Affairs for a successful medical device start-up company developing patient safety equipment (2002-07). He has continued to maintain a clinical practice throughout his professional career and is currently a volunteer with the American Red Cross.