Camara Phyllis Jones (born August 16, 1955)[1] is an American physician, epidemiologist, and anti-racism activist who specializes in the effects of racism and social inequalities on health. She is known for her work in defining institutional racism, personally mediated racism, and internalized racism in the context of modern U.S. race relations.[2] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jones drew attention to why racism and not race is a risk factor[3] and called for actions to address structural racism.[4][5]
Camara Phyllis Jones was born August 16, 1955, in San Francisco, California.[6] Following her graduation from high school, Jones went on to receive her B.A. in molecular biology from Wellesley College in 1976.[7] She then went on to earn her M.D. from the Stanford University School of Medicine in 1981[7] and her M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health the following year.[7] After receiving her medical degree, she completed residency training in 1983 for General Preventative Medicine at Johns Hopkins and completed a second residency training in 1986 in Family Practice at Montefiore Medical Center.[8][9] She earned her Ph.D. in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1995.[10] The title of her dissertation was Methods for Comparing Distributions: Development and Application Exploring "Race"-Associated Differences in Systolic Blood Pressure.[citation needed]
Career
Jones' work focuses on naming, measuring and addressing the impacts of racism on health and well-being.[11][12] To illustrate the effects of racism, Jones often uses allegories or stories, such as "The Gardener's Tale", which she shared in a 2000 article in the American Journal of Public Health[13] and in a TEDx talk she gave in 2014. She co-authored a chapter on Action and Allegories for the American Public Health Association book, Racism: Science & Tools for the Public Health Professional.[14]
Jones was a 2019–2020 Radcliffe Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. As a Radcliffe fellow, she is developing tools to inspire, equip, and engage all Americans in a national campaign against racism.[11] She is a Past President of the American Public Health Association (2015–2016) and a Senior Fellow at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute and the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine.[15] She was a Medical Officer and Research Director on Social Determinants of Health and Equity for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (2000–2014).[16][17]
She was also a "Myron and Margaret Winegarden Visiting Professor" at the University of Michigan–Flint in the Department of Public Health and Health Sciences from 2016 to 2017.
(2012): Senior Fellow in Health Disparities Research: W. Montague Cobb/National Medical Association (NMA) Health Institute
(2011): John Snow Award- Epidemiology Section: American Public Health Association and the Royal Society for Public Health[7]
(2010): Distinguished Service Award: Georgia State Medical Association
(2010): Presidential Citation: Society for Public Health Education
(2009): Hildrus A. Poindexter Distinguished Service Award: Black Caucus of Health Workers, American Public Health Association[7]
(2009): Nominee, Charles C. Shepard Science Award: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Nominated in the category "Assessment and Epidemiology" for the publication: Jones, CP; Truman, BI; Elam-Evans, LD; Jones, CA; Jones, CY; Jiles, R; Rumisha, SF; Perry, GS (2008). "Using "Socially Assigned Race" to Probe White Advantages in Health Status". Ethnicity & Disease. 18 (4): 496–504. PMID19157256.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
