BIOSKETCH-THOMAS JACOBS, PHDTom Jacobs, PhD, is an Associate Vice Chancellor for Federal Relations at the University of Texas System. For 24 years, Dr. Jacobs’ career at the NIH was dedicated to the advancement of vascular biology and neuroscience research to address disorders of the nervous system, particularly stroke and brain tumors. The skills he developed as a NIH Program Director are directly relevant to facilitating coordinated efforts between the NIH and UT faculty. As the Stroke Program Director at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH, he has had extensive interactions with scientists and clinicians, nationally and internationally, in pursuit of identifying the best strategies to solve significant scientific/medical problems. Dr. Jacobs was responsible for implementing national planning efforts that developed targeted initiatives to stimulate research growth in the Blood-Brain Barrier and Neurovascular research fields and advised scientists at all levels on the preparation and competitiveness of their NIH grant applications. Prior to his NIH experience, Dr. Jacobs received his doctoral degree from the University of Maryland. He was a faculty member at the Uniformed Service University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) in Bethesda, MD where his research focused on mechanisms of central nervous system injury in stroke and trauma. He has contributed over 50 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Jacobs has provided leadership in aligning neuroscience at UT with national research priorities for brain research. The UT BRAIN initiative funded by the UT System provided seed grants for interdisciplinary collaborations across all 14 institutions. UT scientist successfully sustained an initial $4.5M research investment with over $32.6M through competitive Federal and private sources. The success of the initiative resulted in recognition of UT as a non-Federal partner of the National BRAIN Initiative®.