Harry R. Jacobson

Dr. Jacobson, current Chairman of MedCare Investment Funds, is the former Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs at Vanderbilt University and CEO of Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). During Dr. Jacobson’s 11+ years of tenure, VUMC revenues grew from $750 million to $2.5 billion while delivering superior care at substantially lower costs seen in similar hospitals, its 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 Reporthonor-roll hospital, and, most recently, as a Fortune 100 top place to work.

Dr. Jacobson has been a successful investor and entrepreneur, as well having founded or co-founded 10 companies. In addition, in his role at VUMC he participated in the oversight of technology transfer operations, which resulted in the creation of over two dozen companies.

Notable co-founded companies include Contact Software (the developer of Act!, the world’s leading contact management software), acquired by Symantec (SYMC:NASDAQ); Renal Care Group (RCG:NYSE), a leading dialysis service company, acquired by Fresenius (FMS:NYSE); Ambulatory Services of America (currently privately held), a diversified outpatient ancillary services provider currently providing dialysis and radiation oncology services (2009 revenue estimate > $200 million); and CeloNova Biosciences, a medical device company with two CE-approved and one FDA-approved products (2009 revenue estimate > $7 million).

Dr. Jacobson has been both a formal and informal advisor to several venture and private equity funds. He formerly served on the Board of Directors of Kinetic Concepts (KCI:NYSE) and Merck (MRK:NYSE).