It’s hard to imagine someone with more connections to Las Vegas and Nevada than Dr. David Jackson, the Intermountain Healthcare of Nevada Endowed Chair in Gynecologic Surgery and Obstetrics at the Kirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV.
And more humble beginnings.
Raised in the Charleston Heights area of Las Vegas, he is a graduate of Robert O. Gibson Leadership Academy, previously known as Robert O. Gibson Middle School, and Western High School.
“My first job was at Valley Hospital Medical Center washing dishes in the kitchen. I've had a lot of firsts,” he says. “Here in town, I opened the first Burger King on Decatur. I opened the first Denny's on Charleston and Rancho.”
His greatest thrill back then was finding a golf ball in the field across from the municipal golf course, “which I could then take and sell for 25 cents to the golfers,” Jackson says. “That was a big deal back then.”
His history of firsts wasn’t done though.
“I was in the first class that became a four-year class for University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine,” says Jackson. “At that point, there was no UNLV School of Medicine. And then I went off to practice and raise a family. But it was always my dream to come back to Las Vegas, be with our local family, and finish my career in academics.”
And so he did. He completed his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, and his fellowship in maternal-fetal medicine at the University of California at Irvine and Memorial Medical Center in Long Beach, California.
Jackson went on to private practice for 10 years each in Eugene, Oregon, and Billings, Montana. “I always said I provided world-class medicine with a small town heart.”
The firsts continued. “I started the first perinatal center in Oregon outside of Portland, and I started the first maternal-fetal medicine center in Billings, Montana.”
Perhaps the most important first, was when he first knew he wanted to go into obstetrics and gynecology.
“I remember exactly when it happened,” Jackson says. “I was on my pediatric rotation and I liked pediatrics. I love kids and I was supposed to do a procedure and the child said, ‘No, don't do that to me,’ and started crying. And I said, ‘OK, somebody else will do that.’ So, I became a pediatrician to children in the womb. Maternal fetal medicine is exciting and dynamic. I love the promotion of fetal therapies, fetal diagnosis and ultrasound. I have continued to garner international recognition for research in fetal imaging and three dimensional fetal imaging. I am devoted to the promotion of education and clinical care for women and their pregnancies, including gynecologic care for women of all ages.”
Considering how much he loves children, does Jackson have any idea how many babies he’s brought into the world or supervised being brought into the world?
“When I was in private practice, I was doing 300 deliveries a year for 20 years. Between my own deliveries and resident or other practitioner supervision, I would say three to four hundred deliveries a year for 30 years. It’s less now, but it is still a thrill. I was on call with the residents, and they are fantastic. The deliveries and ‘miracle of birth’ were the highlights.”
Jackson is committed to serving Nevada’s diverse, multicultural, and underserved populations. While in Montana, he was honored to serve the Crow Nation and Northern Cheyenne populations. The same issues that were prevalent in those communities can be found right here in Nevada today. Jackson notes people are now starting to understand the “... social determinants of health, the effects of poverty and low resources, the need to lower maternal mortality and morbidity, and the need to properly help rural obstetrical deserts.”
Jackson took over as the chair of the gynecologic surgery and obstetrics department in January of this year, noting that he always “had a passion for the UNLV organizational mission and objectives.” In May, he formally became the Intermountain Healthcare of Nevada Endowed Chair in Gynecologic Surgery and Obstetrics at a special ceremony, a uniquely high honor at the school of medicine.
His curriculum vitae (CV) documents accomplishments in the state and within the Nevada System of Higher Education (NSHE), illustrating the ties that bind him to the community. It is relationships and connections that he believes are most important. As a maternal-fetal medicine specialist, he has worked with nearly every obstetrical provider in Las Vegas and Reno.
“I believe that one of the great strengths of our city and our state is that we still believe in positive medicine built upon positive relationships. Training our future physicians, providing elite clinical care, and establishing transformational research are our current goals.”
