A Wayne State University School of Medicine faculty member will lead a new statewide task force formed to eliminate health care disparities.
The Michigan State Medical Society announced June 16 that Theodore Jones, M.D., FACOG, associate professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, will chair the Task Force to Advance Health Equity.
The goal of the task force, according to the society, is to “eliminate health disparities by pursuing health equity throughout society by direct engagement with policymakers, medical schools, health care leaders, members and other stakeholders, and to advance policies that lead to a more diverse physician workforce, greater cultural awareness, mitigation of social determinants of health, and transparent and equitable organizational structures.”
Dr. Jones, a graduate of Morehouse College, received his medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine. He completed his Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at Baylor University Medical Center. He was a National Health Service Corp scholar and served three years in rural Arkansas. He completed his fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine at Wayne State University/Hutzel Hospital. He is a fellow of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology. He has been a School of Medicine faculty member faculty since 1991. He has served as program director, associate chair for Education and interim chair of the WSU Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, as well as division chief for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and chief of Obstetrics for Hutzel Women’s Hospital.
“We are living through an unparalleled time that has laid bare significant gaps in health equity in many communities across the state,” Dr. Jones said in a news release announcing the formation of the task force. “These communities share many attributes but important among them are that they are much less healthy, less safe, have less opportunities for jobs, more likely to be food deserts and have poorer access to health care than many other communities in the state. MSMS and its members recognize that they are in a position to be active change agents that encourage an honest examination of the systems of government, culture and health care that reinforce a legacy of exclusion and structured oppression that impedes racial justice and equity. The task force will take on the work of devising a robust response to this very real need.”
Dr. Jones, a maternal and fetal medicine expert with Beaumont Hospital, Dearborn, holds a full-time affiliate faculty appointment with WSU.
The founding medical director of the Perinatal Infectious Disease Clinic at the University Health Clinic, he has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Michigan State Medical Society and as president of the Wayne County Medical Society of Southeast Michigan.
The Michigan State Medical Society is a professional organization representing more than 15,000 physicians and medical students in Michigan. It is the state affiliate of the American Medical Association. For more information about the task force, email MSMS@MSMS.org.