Harold Jones
Harold Jones, Ph.D., has over 30 years of experience in senior academic leadership positions in health professions education and research. He recently retired from his role as Dean of the School of Health Professions at the University of Alabama at Birmingham after serving in that position for 18 years.
Harold Jones, Ph.D., has over 30 years of experience in senior academic leadership positions in health professions education and research. He recently retired from his role as Dean of the School of Health Professions at the University of Alabama at Birmingham after serving in that position for 18 years. His administrative functions included oversight of strategic planning, program and research development, recruitment, financial management, partnership development, constituent relations and philanthropy for an enterprise of nearly $50 million annually. For his service and record of accomplishment there, he was appointed by the University of Alabama Board of Trustees as only the second Emeritus Professor and Dean of the School of Health Professions.
Dr. Jones has played a leadership role in developing numerous partnerships with private not-for-profits, foreign governments, and business entities. Included in these efforts have been the UAB/Lakeshore Foundation Research Collaborative, executive health administration programs in Saudi Arabia, and collaborative nutrition initiatives with Nestle Corporation among others. This collaboration of UAB’s School of Health Professions with the Lakeshore Foundation, the nation’s premiere site using exercise, sports, and activity to improve quality of life for individuals dealing with physical disabilities, created the first significant entrance of the Lakeshore Foundation, into research. In the decade since the Collaborative was formed, research funding of almost $100 million has been obtained.
Dr. Jones received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Duke University, a B.S. with Honors and Distinction in Biology from Rhodes College and completed his postdoctoral studies at the University of Georgia. He has also participated in both Harvard’s Management Development Program and its Management and Leadership in Education Program. Prior to serving as Dean of the School of Health Professions at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, he served for nine years as Dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences at East Carolina University. Before that, he served as the first Branch Chief for the Science Planning and Analysis Branch at the National Institute on Drug Abuse overseeing the Institute’s science strategic planning and coordinating many of the Institute’s cross-divisional activities. He also has served as a Program Director for the Shared Instrument and Instrument Development Programs at the National Science Foundation, an Associate Dean for the College of Allied Health Professions at the University of South Alabama and as a faculty member in the Department of Biochemistry in the School of Medicine at the University of South Alabama where his biomedical research was supported by grants from NIH, NSF, and the American Heart Association.
Dr. Jones has received several recognitions during his career including election as a Fellow of the Association of Schools Advancing Health Professions (ASAHP) and to Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi. He was awarded the University of South Alabama Scholar of the Year Award and the J. Warren Perry Author of the Year Award (Journal of Allied Health). He has also received recognition for community leadership for his efforts in leading United Way campaigns at both East Carolina University and UAB.