Camara Phyllis Jones (1955- )

August 23, 2020 
/ Contributed By: Euell A. Dixon

|Camara Phyllis Jones

Camara Jones

Courtesy Aaron Shirley (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Dr. Camara Phyllis Jones is a physician, epidemiologist, and civil rights activist whose work focuses on the impacts of racism on the health and well-being of the nation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jones has drawn attention to why racism rather than race is a risk factor.

Jones was born on August 16, 1955 In San Francisco, California. After graduating from high school, she attend Wellesley College in Massachusetts where she earned her B.A. in Molecular Biology in 1976. She received an M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, California in 1981 and an M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1982. She completed two residency programs, one at Johns Hopkins in General Preventive Medicine (1981-1983), and the other in Family Practice at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York (1983-1986).

Jones was Chief Resident in Family Practice at Montefiore Hospital from 1985 to 1986. Once her residency was completed, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at City University of New York Medical School in the Department of Community Health and Social Medicine (1986-1987). She continued her education at Johns Hopkins, gaining her Ph.D. in Epidemiology in 1995, while performing as Assistant Professor in the Departments of Health and Social Behavior, Epidemiology and Division of Public Health Practice (1994-2000).

Jones has held multiple positions at the same time. She worked as an Assistant Professor in the departments of Health and Social Behavior, Epidemiology, and the Division of Public Health Practice at Harvard School of Public Health (1994-2000). By 2003, Jones had been appointed to be Adjunct Associate Professor at Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, in the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine. She was then appointed as Adjunct Professor, in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Health, and the Department of Epidemiology, at Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. She was an Assistant Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health from 1994 to 2000, and a Medical Officer at the CDC from 2000 to 2014. In 2012, Jones was a visiting Professor at Meharry Medical College in Tennessee, and a Myron and Margaret Winegarden Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan Flint (2016-2017).

Jones is also a past President of the American Public Health Association (2015-2016), and a Senior Fellow at the Sacher Health Leadership Institute and the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine. Jones has written numerous publications and has dozens of awards for her work in epidemiology. She is married to Herbert Singleton, and the couple have two children.

About the Author

Author Profile

Multiple business owner Euell Dixon (formerly Nielsen) was born on November 3, 1973, in Sewell, New Jersey. The youngest daughter of scientist and author Eustace A. Dixon II and Travel Agent Eleanor Forman, Euell was an early reader and began tutoring at The Verbena Ferguson Tutoring Center for Adults at the age of 13. She has owned and operated five different companies in the past 20 years including Show and Touch, Stitch This, Get Twisted, Dimaje Photography, and Island Treazures.

Euell is a Veteran of the U.S. Army (Reserves) and a member of the Order of Eastern Star, House of Zeresh #103. She is also the 3rd Historian for First African Presbyterian Church, the nationโ€™s oldest African American Presbyterian church, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Additionally, Euell is also a photographer, storyteller, fiber artist, and a historical re-enactor, portraying the lives of Patriot Hannah Till, Elizabeth Gloucester, and Henrietta Duterte. Euell has been writing for Blackpast.org since 2014 and was given an award from the site in 2016 for being the only African American female who had almost 100 entries at the time. Since then, she has written over 300 entries. Euell currently lives in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Dixon, E. (2020, August 23). Camara Phyllis Jones (1955- ). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/camara-phyllis-jones-1955/

Source of the Author's Information:

Clea Simon, โ€œFacing the denial of American racism,โ€ News.harvard.edu, June 5, 2020, https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/06/facing-the-denial-of-american-racism/; Selena Simmons Duffin and Pien Huang, โ€œCDC employees call out agency’s toxic culture of racial aggressions,โ€ July 13, 2020, Npr.org, https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/07/13/889769017/cdc-employees-call-out-agencys-toxic-culture-of-racial-aggression; Amy Goodman, โ€œExposing U.S. Racism in a Stark new Way: Covid-19 kills disproportionate number of black Americans,โ€ Democracynow.org, April 9, 2020, https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/9/camara_phyllis_jones_coronavirus_race_disparities.

Further Reading