Dr. Jacobs Receives Nix Award

Joshua J. Jacobs, MD, president of the OREF Board of Trustees, received the Dr. and Mrs. J. Elmer Nix Award during the Clinical Orthopaedic Society (COS) Annual Meeting Sept.5, 2025.

Established in 1996, the Nix Award recognizes individuals who have upheld the highest ethical standards in orthopaedic surgery. It is awarded to an orthopaedic physician who demonstrates the ethical principles upheld by COS, including integrity, professionalism, patient-centered care, and the balance between innovation and moral responsibility. COS selected Dr. Jacobs as this year's recipient for his leadership and contributions to OREF and orthopaedic research, noting the lasting impact he has made on both.

In 1990, OREF awarded Dr. Jacobs a Career Development Grant, and during his career, Dr. Jacobs has published more than 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts, most of which focus on the biological consequences of material degradation from joint replacement implants. Dr. Jacobs is a Multiple Principal Investigator on two large National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards including the University of Chicago/Rush University Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences and the Acute to Chronic Pain Signature consortium of the NIH Common Fund's Helping End Addiction Long-term (HEAL) initiative.

As recipient of the Nix Award, Dr. Jacobs delivered the Nix Award Lecture with his talk, “Ethics in Motion: Advancing Orthopaedic Research with Integrity." in which he discussed balancing groundbreaking research with ethical responsibility. Following Dr. Jacobs' presentation, OREF grant recipients Brian J. Cole, MD, FAAOS, MBA, and Nicolas S. Piuzzi, MD, presented OREF Award Lectures: Excellence in Orthopaedic Advancement, also expanding on this topic.