Windber Research Institute Staff

F. Nicholas Jacobs, Fache, President

Mr. Jacobs is the President of Windber Medical Center (WMC) and the Windber Research Institute (WRI). He was a co-founder of the Windber Research Institute, a high throughput proteomic and genomic research institute that is an international research center for heart and reproductive diseases.


Prior, Mr. Jacobs served as the Chief Communications Officer of the Conemaugh Health System; Executive Director for the Conemaugh Health Foundation; Vice President of Mercy Medical Center; Executive Director of the Mercy Healthcare Foundation, President of the Laurel Highlands Convention and Visitors Bureau; Executive Director of Laurel Arts of Somerset, PA; Teacher and Department Chair for Westmont and Johnstown Schools; for the Plum Borough School District in Pittsburgh; and was a professional trumpet player.


He holds a Master's degree in Public Management/Health Systems Management from Carnegie Mellon University, and Master's and Bachelor's degrees in Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He has been awarded Certification from the Grantsmanship Center at the College of William and Mary; and a Certificate in Health Care Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. Mr. Jacobs is also a Fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives.


He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the international hospital organization, Planetree, the Hospital Council of Western PA, the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Services, the River City Brass Band, and the Arcadia Performing Arts Theater. He is also a member of the advisory council for the John P. Murtha Institute of Homeland Security at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Jacobs has received various awards including the 2005 Indiana University of Pennsylvania Distinguished Alumni Award, the Commander's Award, Walter Reed Healthcare System; Outstanding Support Award, Clinical Breast Care Project, Walter Reed Army Medical Center; Clinical Breast Care Project Collaboration Award, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences; Pennsylvania Senate Proclamation Recipient from Senator John Wozniak; Pennsylvania Community Rural Health Leader of the Year, Pennsylvania Rural Health Association, Grant B. Miller Award for Leadership, Somerset County Chamber of Commerce.


In addition to his CEO positions with WRI and WMC, Mr. Jacobs served as an adjunct instructor for St. Francis University and has been a guest lecturer at various regional, state, and national conferences and workshops including the American College of Healthcare Executives annual congress; the National Planetree Conference; the American Society on Aging; and at numerous colleges and universities including Ohio State University, Carnegie Mellon University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and St. Francis University. Many of his writings have been published in healthcare journals and he has been featured in the Wall Street Journal.


Michael Liebeman, MD

Michael N. Liebman, Ph.D. has been Chief Scientific Officer at Windber Research Institute since November, 2003. Prior to this he was Director, Computational Biology and Biomedical Informatics at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute of the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center since September, 2000. He previously was Global Head of Computational Genomics at Roche Pharmaceuticals and Director, Bioinformatics and Pharmacogenomics at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. He was also Director of Genomics for Vysis, Inc and Director of Bioinformatics at the Amoco Technology Company.


Dr. Liebeman has served on the faculty of Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Pharmacology and Physiology/Bipohysics. He serves on 12 international scientific advisory boards consults for five pharma/biotech companies and has been on the economic development programs in the Philadelphia Life Sciences Sector and the State of Illinois Biotechnology Commission. He is currently Chair of the Healthcare Task Force for the SMART program, and on the Human Health and Medicinal Chemistry Commission of the IUPAC. His research focuses on computational models of disease progression stressing risk detection, disease process modeling and analysis of lifestyle interactions.