Longtime Quality Care Champion Dr. Joseph Jacobson Receives Simone Award

May 28, 2019

Dr. Joseph JacobsonJoseph Jacobson, MD, MSc, FASCO, of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has been named the recipient of this year’s Joseph V. Simone Award and Lecture for Excellence in Quality and Safety in the Care of Patients With Cancer.

Dr. Jacobson is a longstanding champion of providing quality care to patients with cancer and has been involved in many of ASCO’s quality initiatives. He has served as chief quality officer at Dana-Farber since 2011 and is also a member of and practicing physician in the Thoracic Oncology Program, as well as an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is the first to hold that position at Dana-Farber, in which he oversees clinical quality programs across the institute and its affiliates and represents it in regional and national quality improvement efforts. His work focuses on clinical process measurement and improvement, efficiency and effectiveness of care, and quality leadership development. As part of the Partners Healthcare system, he co-developed and currently co-directs the Partners Clinical Process Improvement Leadership Program. He also is extensively published in the field of quality and safety and serves as a reviewer for several medical publications.

“Joe is a cornerstone in the ever-growing field of oncology quality care, and his passion for providing top-notch care to all patients with cancer combined with his extensive experience as a practitioner and quality improvement champion makes him stand out,” said 2018-2019 ASCO president Monica M. Bertagnolli, MD, FACS, FASCO, a surgical oncologist at Dana-Farber. “Joe is an inspiration to everyone who has the pleasure of working with him, as evidenced by the many students, physicians, and colleagues in the field of quality and safety who name him as mentor, whether formally or informally.”

At ASCO, Dr. Jacobson has been a key participant in many of the Society’s quality initiatives and offerings and was named a Fellow of ASCO in 2016. He was among the founding members of the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®), which opened to all practices in 2006 after a years-long pilot program, and has served as chair of the QOPI Steering Committee, the QOPI® Certification Program, and as chair of the Quality of Care Committee. He also is a co-developer of the ASCO/Oncology Nursing Society Chemotherapy Safety Standards, most recently updated in 2016.

In 2013, he co-led the Quality Training Program (QTP)'s development and implementation, with the first oncology practice teams completing the six-month program in March 2014. He currently serves as a QTP faculty and improvement coach, serving as a mentor and guide for the teams participating in the program and their quality improvement projects. This innovative team-based, oncology-specific, quality improvement program has rapidly expanded and is now offered both in the United Sates and internationally. In 2016, he chaired the Quality of Care Symposium Planning Committee. For ten years he served as an associate editor for the Journal of Oncology Practice during which time he developed and oversaw the Quality in Action site.

“There are no words to express my gratitude for being selected to receive this award,” Dr. Jacobson said. “Joe Simone has been an ever-present and irreplaceable mentor to me over the last two decades. He has taught me how to tackle big projects, how to win buy-in, how and when to compromise, and how to have fun in the process.”

The Joseph V. Simone Award and Lecture for Excellence in Quality and Safety in the Care of Patients With Cancer was established in 2016 and created in honor of Joseph V. Simone, MD, FASCO, to recognize his significant and enduring contributions to the quality and safety of cancer care. Dr. Simone contributed to the development of curative treatments for childhood leukemia and lymphoma and supported the creation of ASCO's Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®). The award recognizes visionary oncology care providers who excel in the area of quality care. The inaugural award went to Patricia A. Ganz, MD, FASCO, with George P. Browman, MD, MSc, FRCPC, receiving it in 2017 and Douglas W. Blayney, MD, FASCO, in 2018.


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