Regina Jacob, MD, MSCE, is an assistant professor of Clinical Medicine at The Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University in North Philadelphia. She received her MD degree from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., completed her internal medicine residency at Temple University Hospital, and earned a master’s degree in Clinical Epidemiology at The Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University in Manhattan, New York.
Dr. Jacob has two main research interests which both assess psychological adjustment and co-morbid medical conditions. She conducted a study called Coping with Lymphoma to Enhance Adjustment and Reduce Stress, which assessed the psychological adjustments which may occur after a diagnosis of lymphoma. She continues to grow her cancer survivorship expertise in education, designing curricula to educate internal medicine residents on how to appropriately tailor primary care for patients with a history of cancer.
Her second research interest involves assessing co-morbid conditions that result from chronic and cumulative trauma exposure. She is currently conducting a study called Trauma Alert! How Social Complexity Contributes to Medical Complexity, which assesses the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), adverse childhood experiences, depression, and co-morbidity in an underserved primary care population. While the effects of poverty on healthcare are known, there is still a large amount of work to be done with regards to how trauma associated with poverty results in negative health behaviors and subsequent poor medical and psychological outcomes.