1979 grad named to YSU board of trustees

By Harold Gwin

The appointment provides a unique opportunity to give back, the new trustee said.

YOUNGSTOWN — A Canfield physician and Youngstown State University graduate has been appointed to the YSU board of trustees.

Gov. Ted Strickland named Dr. John Russell Jakubek to the post Friday.

Dr. Jakubek will complete the unexpired term of Dr. Dianne Bitonte Miladore until mid-2014. Miladore stepped down after being appointed to the board of trustees at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and Pharmacy.

Dr. Jakubek is an anesthesiologist and serves on the staff of both Bel-Park Anesthesia Associates Inc. and St. Elizabeth Boardman Health Center, where he is also a member of the Clinical Medical Executive Committee. He is a didactic and clinical instructor at the St. Elizabeth Health Center School for Nurse Anesthetists and medical director of the Surgery Center of Canfield.

He is past president of Bel-Park Anesthesia Associates.

“I’m a lifelong member of this community,” said the 1975 graduate of Campbell Memorial High School.

He earned a bachelor of science degree summa cum laude from YSU in 1979 and is a 1982 graduate of The Ohio State University College of Medicine.

Dr. Jakubek said a lot of the personal and professional goals he has attained are due to the education he received at YSU.

Receiving the board appointment is “a unique opportunity to give back to the community and YSU,” he said. “I’m excited. It’s a lot of work, but I expected that.”

He said he applied for the post around the first of April after learning that a vacancy existed on the board.

Dr. Jakubek is a member of the YSU Penguin Club and the St. Maron Education Foundation and a lifetime member of both the YSU and OSU alumni associations. He is also a member of the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, the American Society of Anesthesiologists, the Mahoning County Medical Society and several other medical organizations.

His wife, Paula, who grew up in Hubbard, is a nurse anesthetist who earned her nursing credentials in programs at Trumbull Memorial and St. Elizabeth.

Jakubek’s appointment leaves two other vacancies on the YSU board of trustees.

The terms of Dr. H.S. Wang and student trustee Stephen W.T. Foley expire next month.

gwin@vindy.com