Dr. Harry Jacobson, healthcare investor and former CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center to speak at Belmont Friday

HarryJacobsonDr. Harry Jacobson, Chairman of MedCare Investment Funds and a founding partner of Tristar Technology Ventures, will present a public lecture at Belmont University this Friday morning, February 7.  He will speak on healthcare innovation from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. in McWhorter Hall Room 114, and the event is open to the public.   The lecture is sponsored by the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences & Nursing as part of their Diagnosing Our Future Speaker Series.

MedCare and its affiliated entities manage approximately $1 billion in assets, the substantial majority of which are related to the medical and healthcare services industry.  Currently MedCare has a portfolio of fifteen healthcare companies representing most sectors of the industry including services, information technologies, medical devices, pharm and biotechnology. All of MedCare’s investments are targeted to companies bringing innovation to health care.

Dr. Jacobson is former Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs at Vanderbilt University and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC).  During Dr. Jacobson’s eleven years at VUMC, its revenues grew from $750 million to $2.5 billion while delivering superior care at substantially lower costs seen in similar hospitals.  During that time, the medical center’s federally funded (NIH) research program moved from 24th to the top 10 in the country and it opened over $1 billion of newly constructed research and patient care facilities.  As a result, VUMC was recognized as a “most-wired” hospital as well as a U.S. News and World Report honor-roll hospital, and, most recently, as a Fortune 100 top place to work.

Dr. Jacobson serves on the Board of Directors of Ingram Industries and SpecialtyCare Inc., as well as on the Boards of several other healthcare companies. In 2002 he was named the Ernst and Young Southeast Entrepreneur of the Year and was recently ranked No. 35 on Modern Physician’s ranking of the 50 Most Powerful Physician Executives in Healthcare. Dr. Jacobson has published over 100 research articles, reviews, and book chapters and co-edited the book, The Principles and Practice of Nephrology.