Medicine Grand Rounds- Dr. George Karam in honor of the Third Annual Alan Jacobs Memorial Lecture presents: ” Understanding Humanism”

Dr. Karam is a graduate of LSU School of Medicine New Orleans, where he was elected to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society.  He did his residency in internal medicine, a year as Chief Resident, and his fellowship in infectious diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  He joined the full-time faculty at LSU School of Medicine in 1983 and achieved the rank of Professor of Medicine in 1994.  In 1990, Dr. Karam became the Head of Internal Medicine at Earl K. Long Hospital in Baton Rouge and has been the Program Director for the internal medicine residency since that time.  In 2001, he was awarded the endowed Paula Garvey Manship Chair of Medicine.

Dr. Karam is truly a gifted teacher.  He received awards for teaching excellence as both a resident and fellow at UAB.  As a faculty member, he has received the Aesculapian Award as an outstanding professor 19 times, and the graduating senior class named him the best clinical professor 15 times.  He has also been the recipient of the Copping Award, the Shelby-Bourgeois teaching award, the Van Dyk teaching award, and the Humanism in Medicine award, and he was inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society.  He has received numerous visiting professorship and lectureship awards.  He is an internationally recognized expert on antibiotic resistance and the judicious use of antimicrobials.

Dr. Karam has served the school of medicine with distinction for more than 30 years.  He has touched the lives of countless students and residents.

The Alan Jacobs Memorial Lecture

Alan Jacobs passed away in February 2016 from complications of cardiac amyloidosis. Prior to his diagnosis, Alan led a successful career in film spanning over 40 years. Beginning in the 1960s, he produced documentary films supporting the civil rights and feminist movements and critiquing the Vietnam War. Alan held executive positions at the Trans-Lux Corporation and Hallmark Entertainment Company, where he produced films for television; and board positions at both the Sundance Film Festival, of which he was a founding member and The American Film Institute. In his later years, Alan taught cinematic history and film production at California State University, Long Beach. As impactful as his professional accomplishments were, those fortunate to know Alan remember his intellect, warmth, and humor.

Alan spent his last years in North Carolina and was a patient at UNC Hospitals. Throughout his illness, Alan maintained an interest in the science of his condition and a firm belief in the importance of humanism in patient care, including end-of-life care. One of Alan’s final wishes was to establish a lectureship at the UNC School of Medicine to support the kind of compassionate care that he was so fortunate to receive.

The Department of Medicine is grateful for the generous donation by Alan’s family to establish the Alan Jacobs Memorial Lecture.