Portrait of Lloyd Jacobs unveiled

Center renamed for former UTMC president

Dr. Lloyd Jacobs and wife, Ola, join artist Leslie Adams, right, in unveiling his portrait Thursday in a ceremony to rename the Lloyd A. Jacobs Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center at the University of Toledo college of medicine and life sciences.

A week after naming former University of Toledo President Dr. Lloyd Jacobs’ successor, UT renamed a facility on its medical campus in honor of the vascular surgeon who left the presidential post last year.

University officials gathered Thursday at the Lloyd A. Jacobs Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center at the former Medical College of Ohio to honor the past president and unveil his portrait which will hang in Libbey Hall.

Dr. Jacobs, who previously led the medical college, became UT president in 2006 when the two institutions merged. He stepped down as president in 2014, before his contract expired. Last week, trustees voted to hire University of Arkansas Provost Sharon Gaber as president.

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“Collaborative learning that happens in this interprofessional immersive simulation center is exactly the type of benefit that was envisioned with the merger of the University of Toledo and the Medical University of Ohio,” said Joseph H. Zerbey IV, chairman of the board of trustees and The Blade’s president and general manager. “It is because of the leadership of Dr. Jacobs that we now have pharmacy students learning alongside medical students and future nurses collaborating with future therapists.”

The $36 million simulation center opened in 2014. The technology is used to train students in a variety of medical and other academic fields.

About 100 people attended the 75-minute program at the center, which already bears Dr. Jacobs’ full name on its exterior wall. The former president was praised for investing in campus facilities and for supporting two years of tuition freezes. In turn, he thanked university officials and others for their work.

UT is well-positioned for “another great leap forward,” he said.

“I am confident in your future,” he added, pointing to the way the university weathered the recession, its diversity recruitment and retention efforts, partnerships with area organizations, and investment in the simulation center, among other achievements he listed.

“I am proud to have my name associated with it,” Dr. Jacobs said.

Dr. Jeffrey Gold, University of Nebraska Medical Center chancellor, returned to Toledo where he served as chancellor, for the event, one of nine speakers who paid homage to the former president and celebrated his namesake building.

He illustrated some of the simulation center’s capabilities by interacting during his speech with a video image of himself displayed on a large screen and touted the technology that allows him to be “in hundreds of places at once.”

“Inside this remarkable place medical education will truly transform,” Dr. Gold said. “The technology is taking us to a previously unimaginable level.”

A portrait of Dr. Jacobs by Toledo artist Leslie Adams was revealed at the conclusion of the program. The painting depicts the former president among bookshelves that contain personal touches including a surgical tool, a vintage UT postcard, and an American flag to signify his service in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Ms. Adams painted a portrait of Daniel Johnson, the UT president who preceded Dr. Jacobs, and has also created portraits of Ohio governors, legislators, judges, and academics.

A university spokesman could not provide an estimate of UT’s cost for the painting or signs placed at the simulation center.

Contact Vanessa McCray at: vmccray@theblade.com or 419-724-6065, or on Twitter @vanmccray.