Louis R. Dinon, MD Teaching Chair of Clinical Cardiology at Pennsylvania Hospital
This Professorship was established in 2018 within the Department of Medicine and is bestowed upon a faculty member who shows exceptional mentorship abilities and a passion to support the pursuit of knowledge.
Louis R. Dinon, MD (1925 - 2003) was a beloved Pennsylvania Hospital clinician and educator. Dr. Dinon received his BA degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1945 and his MD degree from Penn in 1949. After internship and residency in internal medicine at Pennsylvania Hospital, he became a cardiology fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital. He returned to the nation’s first hospital as a research fellow in 1957. In 1958, he began his practice in cardiology at Pennsylvania Hospital, where he remained for his entire career.
Throughout his 53-year tenure, Dr. Dinon devoted himself to teaching medical students both the science and the art of medicine. His admonition to “have both your ‘head light’ and your ‘heart light’ on when you care for patients” will be remembered by the hundreds of medical students he taught throughout his remarkable career. They are his legacy.
Dr. Dinon established the Louis R. Dinon, MD Foundation for Teaching of Clinical Cardiology as a means to continue his active support of clinical education beyond his lifetime. Income from the Foundation supports an annual memorial lecture in clinical cardiology at Pennsylvania Hospital.
In recent years, funding from the Dinon family trust has grown to now support three major areas at Pennsylvania Hospital. The Louis R. Dinon, MD Teaching Chair of Clinical Cardiology supports the work of a faculty member whose achievements in teaching and research stand out. The fund also supports the Louis R. Dinon, MD Teaching Fellowship in Clinical Cardiology, which serves as a training program in preventive medicine and offers a leading-edge educational experience to a specially appointed practitioner. Finally, the Louis R. Dinon, MD Annual Memorial Lectureship in Clinical Cardiology is held annually as part of Grand Rounds at Pennsylvania Hospital and serves as a vital component of medical education as well as a key opportunity for faculty development.
Current Chairholder
Douglas S. Jacoby, MD
Douglas S. Jacoby, MD is the Louis R. Dinon Teaching Chair of Clinical Cardiology and Chief of Cardiology at Pennsylvania Hospital. He serves as the founding Medical Director of the Penn Medicine Center for Preventive Cardiology and Lipid Management as well as Director of Clinical Informatics for Cardiovascular Medicine.
Dr. Jacoby graduated summa cum laude from Harvard and received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. He completed his residency and cardiology fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania and has been a faculty member at Penn ever since.
As a preventive cardiologist at Penn, Dr. Jacoby guides patients through the treatment of their cardiovascular concerns and is dedicated to preventing cardiovascular disease through advanced imaging; cutting-edge genetic and lipoprotein laboratory testing; clinical research; and education. He co-directs one of the few preventive cardiology fellowships in the country to help train tomorrow’s leaders in prevention. His clinical research interests include improving cardiovascular assessment through imaging and genetics, using PennChart to improve quality of care, and guiding the selection of pharmacologic risk reduction.
As Chief of Cardiology at Pennsylvania Hospital, Dr. Jacoby leads the hospital’s team and takes a multi-disciplinary approach to addressing the nation’s number one cause of death—heart disease—and to providing robust individualized care to the Penn Medicine community. Through the growth of collaborative programs such as cardio-oncology, women’s cardiovascular health, and cardio-inflammation, patients receive enhanced specialized management from leading experts. Dr. Jacoby actively focuses on improving the patient experience and co-chairs several patient access-related UPHS committees.
Dr. Jacoby has been recognized annually in Castle Connolly (America's Top Doctors) and US News and World Report (Best Doctors) since 2013, and in Philadelphia magazine (Best Doctors) since 2018. He is an FACC (Fellow of the American College of Cardiology), FNLA (Fellow of the National Lipid Association), and FASPC (Fellow of the American Society of Preventive Cardiology).