Lovell A. Jones, PhD

Director 
The Dorothy I. Height Center for Health Equity and Evaluation Research (DH-CHEER),
Office of the Vice President for Cancer Prevention & Population Sciences, 
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MD Anderson)

Director 
Reproductive Biology Program
Graduate School for Biomedical Sciences
The University of Texas Health Science Center - Houston

Professor
Department of Health Disparities Research, MD Anderson
Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, MD Anderson
Graduate School of Social Works, University of Houston

Other
Chair, Health Disparities Education, Awareness, Research & Training (HDEART) Consortium
Cofounder, Intercultural Cancer Council
Founder, Biennial Symposium Series on Minorities, the Medically Underserved & Cancer
Principal Investigator, SECURE Gulf Coast Consortium

Dr. Jones is the founding co-chair of the Intercultural Cancer Council, the nation’s largest multicultural health policy group focused on minorities, the medically underserved and cancer. He has edited "Minorities & Cancer," one of the few comprehensive textbooks on this subject. He is the founding chair of "Minorities, the Medically Underserved and Cancer," the nation’s largest multicultural conference which provides a forum for exchanging the latest scientific and treatment information. This biennial conference brings together people from all ethnic communities and social strata to share strategies for reducing the incidence of cancer among these populations. Dr. Jones spearheaded regional hearings on cancer and the poor for the American Cancer Society. In 2002, Dr. Jones, along with Dr. Armin Weinberg, the other cofounder of the Intercultural Cancer Council, received the Humanitarian Award from the American Cancer Society.

From 1989 to 1995, Dr. Jones was co-principal investigator of the National Black Leadership Initiative on Cancer, the first major minority outreach project sponsored by the National Cancer Institute. He has served on the board of directors of the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Prostate Health Council of the American Foundation for Urologic Diseases. Dr. Jones also served on the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable for Environmental Health Sciences, Research and Medicine and on the Environmental Protection Agency's Scientific Advisory Panel. He currently serves on the Advisory Council for The Benjamin Banneker Institute for Science and Technology and the Partnership for Prevention as well as a number of other national advisory committees.

In 1991, Dr. Jones chaired the Training Session of the Strategic Fact-Finding Meetings on Minority Health and Training in Biomedical Sciences for the Office of the Associate Director for Research on Minority Health (now the National Center on Minority Health & Health Disparities (NCMHD) at the NIH. He also participated in a 1994 review of the activities of the Office of Research on Minority Health at NIH. A co-author of the congressional resolution that designated the third week in April as "National Minority Cancer Awareness Week," Dr. Jones was honored in May 2000 on the floor of the U. S. House of Representatives for his work addressing health disparities among the underserved.

He has served on the Breast Cancer Integration Panel for the Department of Defense and has published over 100 scientific articles on subjects ranging from hormonal carcinogenesis to health policy. His work with estrogen has led to major findings, including the discovery that compounds labeled as weak environmental estrogens may cause adverse effects when exposure occurs during a critical time of development. Because of these results, researchers have begun to rethink when they define environmental estrogens as weak.

In founding the Health Disparities, Education, Awareness, Research & Training (HDEART) Consortium, the efforts are now extending globally. As part of this web page, you will find more information on the effort of HDEART and its attempt to address health disparities utilizing the "Biopsychosocial Model".

Education and Training

• Ford Foundation Fellow, Cancer Research Laboratory, University of California at Berkeley
• PhD, University of California at Berkeley. Field: Zoology. Emphasis: Endocrinology and Tumor Biology
• Postdoctoral Fellow, Reproductive Endocrinology Center, University of California at San Francisco

Research Interests

• The relationship between hormones, diet and endocrine-responsive tumors
• How natural and environmental estrogenic agents may initiate cancers in hormonally responsive tissue
• Dr. Jones’ group published the first report of a cultured, immature, mammary gland cell line with a functioning estrogen receptor. This research may allow scientists to study how breast cancer cells respond to environmental estrogens

Current Research

Between 1980 and 2011, Dr. Jones received more than $25 million in research funding for studies in which he was the principal investigator. During his career, Dr. Jones has received research support from the National Institutes of Health, the Rockwell Foundation, Walton Family Foundation, Kellogg Company, Kellogg Foundation, American Health Foundation, Houston Endowment, Inc., Exxon-Mobil Foundation, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, and the State of Texas. Some current research projects include:

• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Demonstration Project
  A national project assessing the cost benefit of cancer screening and patient navigation services for Medicare recipients.  From 2006 through 2010, DH-CHEER (formerly CRMH) was one of 6 national demonstration sites for a patient navigation project implemented by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  The DH-CHEER site targeted the Houston Latino population.
• The Environment Community Assessment Project (E-CAP): Galena Park
  This project explores environmental factors as a root cause of certain acute and chronic health disparities and engage diverse communities in a comprehensive, culturally appropriate dialogue process to determine perceptions regarding the environment, the environment’s impact on health, prioritization of community environmental needs, and capacity building.  As a collaborating partner with Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services (HCPHES), CHEER staff assisted with and evaluating the implementation of E-CAP by assessing environmental health issues and problems of concern to the community; setting local priorities and realistic environmental health goals; and developing action plans for community-endorsed environmental health strategies and policies to accomplish environmental health goals.
• Enhancing Minority Participation in Clinical Trials (EMPaCT)
  This study involves a collaboration of 5 institutions.  Each investigator is responsible for overseeing the conduct of activities at his/her regional center.  Region IV (Southwest) is led by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, an NIH-designated comprehensive cancer center, and Dr. Lovell A. Jones.  The EMPaCT Program establishes a national consortium to enhance participation of underrepresented minorities in clinical trials.  Consortium members—University of Minnesota, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Johns Hopkins University, MD Anderson, and University of California-Davis—collaborate to develop, implement, and evaluate programs to promote participation in research studies across sites and minority populations.
• Establishing Comprehensive National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Centers of Excellence—PEACE (Project EXPORT, a Center of Excellence)
  To identify and challenge environmental health issues in underserved communities, researchers are finding synergy by combining community outreach programs with basic, applied, and clinical research.
• Houston Breast Cancer Taskforce (HBCTF)
  A comprehensive study of breast health preventive services for women, especially Hispanic and African American women in Harris County and surrounding areas. Twenty-four community agencies were represented as partners in the study, ranging from FQHCs to for-profit medical providers.
• Mexican American Children Study
  Prevalence of Environmental and Genetic Risk Factors for Gastric Cancer in a Population of Mexican-American Children Residing in Texas, commonly known as the ‘The Mexican-American Children Study’ is actively recruiting mother-child dyads from Baytown and La Joya, Texas and their surrounding areas. The study investigates risk factors associated with gastric cancer in children/adolescents.
• Ovarian Cancer and Nutrition Education Study (The ONE Study)
  An investigation of the role of diet in the quality of life of ovarian cancer survivors, measured through questionnaires, weight maintenance records, serum carotenoid levels (biomarkers of fruit and vegetable intake) and maintenance of a normal range of serum albumin levels.
• SECURE Gulf Coast
  SECURE Gulf Coast is an NIH-funded center focused on disaster preparedness from a holistic perspective relevant to environmental effects and health outcomes, particularly with vulnerable and underserved populations.  SECURE brings together a remarkable array of academic leadership in a consortium of seven outstanding medical and public health institutions and centers.

Memberships

• American Association for Cancer Research
• Endocrine Society
• International Association for Breast Cancer Research
• American Society of Zoologists
• American Association for the Advancement of Science
• New York Academy of Science
• Sigma Xi
• Society for the Study of Reproduction
• International Society for Comparative Oncology

Years at MD Anderson: Since 1980