Dr. Jacobs completed her undergraduate work at Stanford, graduating with distinction with double majors in Biology and Psychology in 1987. She received her MD at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine in 1993, graduating Alpha Omega Alpha, and then completed a Primary Care Internal Medicine Residency Program in 1996 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School. Following her clinical training, Dr. Jacobs became a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Chicago where she also completed a Master’s degree in Public Policy (1996- 1998). In 1998 she became a clinician-investigator in the Collaborative Research Unit and Division of General Medicine at Cook County Hospital in Chicago and a faculty member at Rush University Medical Center, where she held several clinical and administrative positions. Dr. Jacobs built a research program in the area of health disparities and she has become a nationally recognized leader in the provision of linguistically accessible and culturally competent care.

Dr. Elizabeth A. Jacobs joined the UW Department of Medicine in September 2010. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Division of General Internal Medicine, and Population Health Sciences and Associate Vice Chair of Health Services Research for the Department. Dr. Jacobs has initiated collaborations with others across the UW-Madison campus in health services research and her joint appointment in Population Health Sciences has resulted in very close collaborations with Dr. Maureen Smith and the Health Innovations Program focusing on health disparities. In her Vice Chair role, Dr. Jacobs serves as a leader and resource for Medicine faculty and trainees in the area of Health Services Research.