Community Psychiatry
HAAF Partner
Charles R Drew Community Faculty
Loretta Jones M.A. Th.D is the founder and CEO of Healthy African American Families, Phase II (HAAF). As a “Community Gatekeeper”, Loretta Jones has dedicated her entire life towards the hope and healing of community and society-at-large. Her career as a civil rights activist, health policy advocate, and social architect has spanned more than 40 years. In an effort to level the playing field for all people, Dr. Jones continues her unyielding commitment as a change agent against disparities in human health, development, and opportunity.
Dr. Jones is an Assistant Professor at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science (CDU) in the Community Faculty Prefix Series. She is a co-investigator of the NIMH UCLA/RAND Center for Research on Quality in Managed Care, the NIA UCLA Center for Health Improvement in Minority Elderly (CHIME), and the NIH Drew/UCLA Project EXPORT, as well as a recipient of numerous CDC grants and contracts. She is a past Co-PI (Los Angeles) on the NIH National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Community Child Health Network (CCHN) and past Co-Chair (Los Angeles) of the Community Engagement Committee for National Children’s Study-Los Angeles Ventura County Study Center (NCS-LAVSC).
Dr. Jones is a member of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill CTSA External Advisory Board and serves on the University of California Los Angeles Institutional Review Board (IRB) for protection of human subjects. She is the founder and President Emeritus of the African American Alcohol and Other Drug Council of Los Angeles (AAAOD) and a member of the Society for the Analysis of African-American Public Health Issues (SAAPHI). She served as a member of the Advisory Council planning the NICHD’s longitudinal child health study and chaired its Social Justice committee. In addition, she served on the committee to plan the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science Mervyn Dymally School of Nursing (MDSON). She served as a Commissioner for the Joint Center Health Policy Institute’s Dellums Commission (2005-2006) and was a Family and Youth Stakeholder Member for the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) in 2005. She is a past member of the American Academy of Nursing Advisory Council and served on the Advisory Board for the Los Angeles Best Babies Collaborative (LABBC). She is the president of the Board of Directors of South Central Prevention Coalition (SCPC) and on the Board of Directors for National Family Life Center and Black Women for Wellness.
Dr. Jones is the first African American non-medical woman to be published in JAMA. She is also published in Ethnicity & Disease, and is a co-author on more than 50 peer-reviewed articles.
Dr. Jones was the recipient of the 2015 Community Campus Partnerships for Health Award and the 2014 Team Science Award from the Association for Clinical and Translational Science and the American Federation for Medical Research for her work on Community Partners in Care, a research project on depression. In 2014, Dr. Jones was awarded the inaugural Ruth Roemer Social Justice Leader Award by the Fielding School of Public Health, the Dr. Nelle Becker-Slaton Pathfinder Award from the Association of Pan-African Doctoral Scholars, and the American Public Health Association (APHA) Community Based Public Health Caucus (CBPHC) Tom Bruce Award. In 2010, she was awarded the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine & Science President’s Award, the Black Caucus of Health Workers of the American Public Health Association Community Service Award, and the National Community-Based Organization Network (NCBON) Lucille Webb Award. In July 2009, the National Health Committee of the NAACP National Board of Directors awarded Dr. Jones the William Montague Cobb Award in recognition of special achievement in social justice, health justice, health education, health promotion, fundraising and/or research, and in August 2009, she received the Rose Award from Senator Curren D. Price, Jr. (26th Senate District) for her demonstrated leadership, volunteerism, and commitment to her community. In 2004, Dr. Jones was honored as the first recipient of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Award for National Contribution to Minority Health Programs, Research and Surveillance–Department of Reproductive Health.