Lia Jacobson, MD
Assistant Professor
Otolaryngology
School of Medicine

She currently Co-Directs UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco’s Multidisciplinary Aerodigestive Center and the Trach-Vent Clinic.

Dr. Jacobson is committed to improving surgical education and surgical equity globally. She is Co-Director for the Center for Health Equity in Surgery and Anesthesia’s Fellowship, a multidisciplinary program that supports emerging, international leaders in perioperative health equity. She works directly with ENT training programs in East Africa and Southeast Asia, focusing on the development of fellowship-level pediatric otolaryngology training, residency education through long-term, bidirectional academic partnerships, and capacity-building in pediatric airway safety. She was awarded UCSF's Institute for Global Health Science Early Global Health Scientist Award in 2025.

Dr. Jacobson completed an undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley and has a master's degree in global medicine from the University of Southern California (USC). She earned her medical degree at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. She completed a residency in otolaryngology – head and neck surgery at Keck Medicine of USC, followed by a fellowship in pediatric otolaryngology at UCSF. She is double board-certified in Otolaryngology and Pediatric Otolaryngology.

• Prevalence of otolaryngological disease in a refugee population compared to US-born patients.
  Laryngoscope investigative otolaryngology 2023 Jaradeh K, Tang A, Czechowicz JA, Jacobson L, Raphael E
• 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome – A series of patients with midline skull base defects
  Otolaryngology Case Reports 2022 Souza SS, Jacobson JL, Chan CD, Meyer MA, Roland RJ, Luu LK
• Targeted Wellness Initiatives Are Most Effective for Reducing Otolaryngology Resident Burnout.
  Ear, nose, & throat journal 2021 Acevedo JR, Schlacter JA, Chambers TN, Jacobson LK, Yalamanchili R, Clark B, Pan D, Kokot NC, Johns MM
• Safety and efficacy of Early injection laryngoplasty in pediatric patients.
  The Laryngoscope 2018 Bertelsen C, Jacobson L, Osterbauer B, Hochstim C
• Geographic health disparities in the Los Angeles pediatric neck abscess population.
  International journal of pediatric otorhinolaryngology 2018 Angajala V, Hur K, Jacobson L, Hochstim C
• Scapular osteocutaneous free flap for total lower lip and mandible reconstruction.
  Microsurgery 2016 Jacobson L, Dedhia R, Kokot N, Chalian A
• Speech and Speech-Related Quality of Life After Late Palate Repair: A Patient's Perspective.
  The Journal of craniofacial surgery 2015 Schönmeyr B, Wendby L, Sharma M, Jacobson L, Restrepo C, Campbell A
• Partial craniofacial duplication: a review of the literature and case report.
  Journal of cranio-maxillo-facial surgery : official publication of the European Association for Cranio-Maxillo-Facial Surgery 2013 Costa MA, Borzabadi-Farahani A, Lara-Sanchez PA, Schweitzer D, Jacobson L, Clarke N, Hammoudeh J, Urata MM, Magee WP