Advancing Vascular Care | Jobst Vascular Institute

Annual Report

With locations across northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan, Jobst Vascular Institute connects patients to the largest and most experienced team of vascular specialties in the region. View our annual report to learn more about the care and services we provide.

View Our Annual Report

History of Innovative Vascular Care

Conrad Jobst was an enterprising young mechanical engineer when he arrived in Toledo after emigrating from Germany in 1913. He became chief engineer at the Toledo Tap and Dye Corporation, and over the course of his career, he patented more than 40 innovations. These included the automobile sunroof, the first automatic brush-making machine, gun sights for aerial combat, and threading tools for automotive equipment during World War I and World War II.

Mr. Jobst suffered from lower extremity venous insufficiency. When he realized that the hydrostatic pressure of a swimming pool eased his symptoms, he wanted to reproduce that effect in a therapeutic garment. This led him to invent the first elastic-stocking pressure garment. The stockings improved his condition so dramatically that he began to mass produce them, so others could benefit from the design too. He founded JOBST in 1950, and his invention has gone on to help thousands worldwide.

After his death in 1957, Jobst's wife, Carolyn, became president of the company. She went on to grow a multinational organization and the largest manufacturer of surgical stockings, pumps and supports in the world. In 1986, Mrs. Jobst established an endowment fund that created the Jobst Vascular Institute at ProMedica Toledo Hospital, the Conrad Jobst Vascular Research Laboratories of the University of Michigan and educational programs including the Conrad Jobst Annual Lecture.