Joshua Jacobs, MD, Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM) Director and Grainger Director of the RUSH Arthritis and Orthopaedics Institute, received the 2024 Association of Bone and Joint Surgeons (ABJS) Nicolas Andry Lifetime Achievement Award at the organization’s annual meeting in Montreal, Québec, Canada.

The award is given to a nominee whose musculoskeletal research has significantly contributed to the knowledge and impact in orthopaedics. Jacobs’ contributions to the field span over four decades. Some of the many highlights from his career include improving the performance of hip and knee replacement implants and helping develop new diagnostic testing methods that monitor implant performance.

“The surgeon-scientist pathway is a difficult one with many twists and turns along the way,” said Jacobs. “This award helps to validate the career choice that I made years ago. I am particularly grateful to my predecessors as department chairs in Orthopaedic surgery at RUSH, Dr. Jorge Galante and Dr. Gunnar Andersson, who made this pathway possible. I am also grateful to my numerous diverse and talented multidisciplinary research collaborators at RUSH and beyond.”

Josh Jacobs receives award from Matthew Dobbs, MD, immediate past president of ABJS.

The award comes with a $10,000 prize. Jacobs will be donating the money to the Robbins and Jacobs Family Biocompatibility and Implant Pathology Laboratory in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at RUSH. Currently, the lab is focusing on research that includes the effects that circulating debris from orthopaedic implants has on brain health and how well new materials used in knee replacements work. Jacobs’ lab is working to  innovate the field of total joint replacements.