Dr James Jakub (Jim) is a high-volume surgical oncologist, with a primary focus on breast cancer and melanoma. He grew up in NJ where he met and married his high school sweetheart, who remains his best friend. Following heart surgery for a congenital defect at age 5 he was told he could never play contact sports. This, in addition to growing up with 4 brothers, was likely his motivation to be active in athletics, including becoming captain of his high school and college wrestling team. Unfortunately, that has little translation to dancing. Combined with an innate lack of rhythm nor being able to hold a tune, this challenge is certainly outside of his comfort zone.

A major focus of his career has been early adoption of innovative operative techniques, as evident by being awarded the Mayo Clinic Innovation in Education Award. The aim of much of his research is to offer surgical interventions with an improved quality of life, while optimizing cure. He strives to provide compassionate care tailoring the surgical management to each patient's unique circumstances. He is a leader in disseminating novel techniques and was awarded the Outstanding Course Director for the Mayo Clinic Radioguided Breast Surgery Course, in which he helped train over 500 physicians from at least 30 states, Canada, and Australia in this procedure. As Mayo Clinic PI, he is one of a few surgeons in the country to offer nipple sparing mastectomy on 2 industry supported FDA prospective trials using a robotic platform.

After 13 winters in Rochester, MN, where he previously served as Section Head, Breast and Melanoma Surgery from 2010-2018 and division chair from 2017-2021, he transferred to Mayo Clinic Florida in 2021. Dr Jakub feels his greatest accomplishment as a parent is that his 3 sons enjoy spending time with him, including inviting him to sports events, concerts and travel. He is honored to be participating in Dancing with the Doctors. Please join him in supporting the Maya Dronca Foundation to raise funds for childhood cancer research.