Education
ScD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 1995
MS, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 1986
Overview
Dr. Jacobson's research interests include epidemiologic methods in cohort studies, HIV, effects of therapy on HIV, and infectious causes of cancer, particularly the human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8) and Kaposi's sarcoma, and the effects of HIV, therapy and age. As the Principal Investigator of the Data and Analytical Coordinating Center for the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS), Dr. Jacobson provides epidemiologic expertise in the conduct of the study, with particular attention to the standardization of study protocols and the design of nested studies. Dr. Jacobson chairs the MACS Data Working Group and represents CAMACS in the Malignancy Group of the Clinical Working Group and participates in the MACS Executive Committee. In addition, she provides epidemiologic, methodological and analytic support to the investigators of the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), and to those involved in the mulicenter cohort study of kidney disease in children (CKID). Dr. Jacobson analyzed the timing of infections with HIV-1 and HHV-8 for progression to Kaposi's sarcoma [J Infect Dis 2000;181:1940-1949]. As an extension of her interest in malignacies and research design, Dr. Jacobson collaborates with investigators from the Department of Environmental Health Sciences in investigations of molecular biomarkers for environmental carcinogens.
Dr. Jacobson is also investigating the use and impact of highly active antiretroviral therapies (HAART), in the context of cohort studies. In one paper, Dr. Jacobson demonstrated the dramatic decline of Kaposi's sarcoma in the HAART era; a similar immediate effect on the incidence of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was not observed [JAIDS 1999;21:S34-S41]. In another paper, Dr. Jacobson demonstrated that the heterogeneity of using antiretroviral therapies differs according to disease stage [J Clin Epidemiol 2001;54:149-156]. Dr. Jacobson also showed that those starting HAART with <200 cells/µ have the equivalent progression to AIDS as those with approximately 300 more cells in the nautral history era [Am J Epidemiol 2002;155:760-770]. This compliated historical and prospective data provided methods for using biomarker data to established treatment effectiveness. She provides epidemiologic expertise to the analyses of HIV effectiveness, long-term use and outcomes, including behavior related to HAART. Taking advantage of her expertise in epidemiologic methods, Dr. Jacobson instructs doctoral students in the application of these methods in the formation and review of research proposals.