Judith Jacobson
Encyclopedia
Judith Jacobson is Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology
at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health
.
Jacobson is a 1964 graduate of Brown University
. She holds an MBA, MPH, and DrPH from Columbia University
.
Jacobson’s major research interests are cancer, asthma, and the role of behavior, including the use of complementary/alternative medicine, in the prevention and control of these conditions. She and colleagues have collaborated on studies of factors associated with cancer outcomes in national data and decision analyses of breast cancer prevention strategies, and on clinical trials of an herbal agent to control hot flashes in breast cancer patients and vitamin supplementation to prevent DNA damage in heavy smokers.
Jacobson is a co-founder of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
and is frequently quoted in the press on the issue of anti-Israel campus activity. In opposing a proposed visit to campus by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Jacobson told the New York Times that neither academic freedom nor free speech required Columbia to “give a podium to anyone who wants it, let alone a Hitler wannabe who has actively suppressed academic freedom in his own country.”
She has told reporters that members of the Columbia faculty are afraid to speak when colleagues treat students who support Israel unfairly because they do not want to risk being subjected to ostracism and even jeopardizing their careers. And that "Some faculty members are afraid to come out and express support for Israel's right to exist
, and some feel they've been penalized and isolated for doing so."
"In the past three years," Jacobson told the Washington Times in 2005, "We've come to realize that we are confronting a pervasive loss of integrity in the academy. What has recently been termed the Palestinianization of the academy is not support for the Palestinians (we would not have a problem with that because we are both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian, and no, that is not an oxymoron), but an obsessive focus on Israel's 'crimes,' and unfounded charges of racism, apartheid, and genocide directed at Israel."
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the study of health-event, health-characteristic, or health-determinant patterns in a population. It is the cornerstone method of public health research, and helps inform policy decisions and evidence-based medicine by identifying risk factors for disease and targets for preventive...
at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health
Columbia Mailman School of Public Health
The Columbia Mailman School of Public Health is one of the schools of Columbia University in New York City. It is one of the first schools of public health recognized by the Council on Education for Public Health and remains a leading academic and research institution. The beginnings of the school...
.
Jacobson is a 1964 graduate of Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
. She holds an MBA, MPH, and DrPH from Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
Jacobson’s major research interests are cancer, asthma, and the role of behavior, including the use of complementary/alternative medicine, in the prevention and control of these conditions. She and colleagues have collaborated on studies of factors associated with cancer outcomes in national data and decision analyses of breast cancer prevention strategies, and on clinical trials of an herbal agent to control hot flashes in breast cancer patients and vitamin supplementation to prevent DNA damage in heavy smokers.
Jacobson is a co-founder of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East is an independent non-profit international community network of academic scholars, which according to its founder, conducts "pro-Israel advocacy"...
and is frequently quoted in the press on the issue of anti-Israel campus activity. In opposing a proposed visit to campus by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Jacobson told the New York Times that neither academic freedom nor free speech required Columbia to “give a podium to anyone who wants it, let alone a Hitler wannabe who has actively suppressed academic freedom in his own country.”
She has told reporters that members of the Columbia faculty are afraid to speak when colleagues treat students who support Israel unfairly because they do not want to risk being subjected to ostracism and even jeopardizing their careers. And that "Some faculty members are afraid to come out and express support for Israel's right to exist
Right to exist
The right to exist is said to be an attribute of nations. According to an essay by the nineteenth century French philosopher Ernest Renan, a state has the right to exist when individuals are willing to sacrifice their own interests for the community it represents. Unlike self-determination, the...
, and some feel they've been penalized and isolated for doing so."
"In the past three years," Jacobson told the Washington Times in 2005, "We've come to realize that we are confronting a pervasive loss of integrity in the academy. What has recently been termed the Palestinianization of the academy is not support for the Palestinians (we would not have a problem with that because we are both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian, and no, that is not an oxymoron), but an obsessive focus on Israel's 'crimes,' and unfounded charges of racism, apartheid, and genocide directed at Israel."