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Jacob Handelsman Professorship in Surgery

School of Medicine

Established in 2005 by Mr. Calvin Cafritz, a philanthropist who resides in Washington, DC

JacobHandelsmanJACOB C. HANDELSMAN was born and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He received his undergraduate degree from The Johns Hopkins University in 1940 and in the same year was admitted to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Handelsman and his wife, Shirley, married shortly before he received his medical degree in 1943. After graduation, he served for 18 months as an intern and assistant resident at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Thereafter, he was chief surgeon in the 391st station hospital with the 88th Infantry Division in Udine, Italy. In 1947, Dr. Handelsman returned to The Johns Hopkins Hospital completing his surgical residency under Dr. Alfred Blalock in 1950.

For over 60 years, Dr. Handelsman dedicated himself to the Johns Hopkins institutions. He served as a student, post-graduate fellow, associate professor, and advisor to the Department of Surgery. During his time as a resident, Dr. Handelsman was awarded a Halsted Fellowship in Surgery and worked with Dr. Richard Bing in his pioneering cardiac catheterization lab. It was in this laboratory that the diagnostic studies of various types of congenital heart diseases were developed. As a member of the medical faculty from 1950 to 1970, Dr. Handelsman taught a generation of third-year medical students and was the surgeon-in-charge of the surgical outpatient clinics. He did this while maintaining a private practice as a general surgeon specializing in the areas of pediatric surgery, thoracic surgery, and inflammatory bowel disease. In 1989, upon his retirement from private practice, Dr. Handelsman took on the position of director of Same Day Surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Dr. Handelsman was an early diplomat to the American Board of Surgery and was a member of American College of Surgeons, the Society of University Surgeons, the Maryland Medical and Chirurgical Society, and the Baltimore City Medical Society. He also served as president of the Baltimore Academy of Surgery. Dr. Handelsman was active in the Baltimore community with the Man Alive Drug Program and the Learning Bank Adult Literacy Program. He died in 2013.

Held by Fabian M. Johnston

FABIAN M. JOHNSTON, M.D., M.H.S., is the Division Chief of the Division of Gastrointestinal Oncology in the Johns Hopkins Department of Surgery where he leads the clinical and academic development of the surgical programs for gastric cancer, sarcoma, and peritoneal surface malignancy. He is an Associate Professor of Surgery and Oncology and also serves as Director of the Peritoneal Surface Malignancy Program and Director of the Complex General Surgical Oncology Program.

Dr. Johnston received his undergraduate degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and medical degree from the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. He completed residences between the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. He completed his complex general surgical oncology fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University where he also earned a Masters in Health Sciences at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and a certificate in Patient Safety and Quality through the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. He was promoted to Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery in 2018 after joining the faculty in 2016.

Dr. Johnston’s areas of clinical expertise include colorectal cancer, cytoreductive surgery, gastric cancer, gastroesophageal cancer, gastrointestinal cancers and tumors, hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC), neuroendocrine tumors, pancreatic cancer, and sarcoma. He is a recognized national expert in peritoneal surface malignancies and soft tissue sarcoma with membership in multiple national and international organizations. He is active nationally in multiple organizations with leadership positions as well including the Association for Academic Surgery, Society for Surgical Oncology, Society of Black Academic Surgeons, Regional Therapies, and American College of Surgeons Committee for Surgical Palliative Care.

Dr. Johnston leads an active research group. His interests include utilization of highly innovative and novel strategies for the implementation of patient-centered models of care to improve utilization of palliative care amongst patients with advanced gastrointestinal malignancies. Through this he hopes to advance effective palliative care to lessen suffering in vulnerable oncology patients and families, while simultaneously leading improvement of health care quality, costs, experiences and outcomes. He is the current recipient of and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Patient Centered Outcome Mentored Research K08 award and has authored over 80 publications with seven book chapters.