Laundette P. Jones

Dr. Laundette P. Jones is an Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, with a secondary appointment in Pharmacology. She serves as Co-Director for the Program in Health Equity and Population Health and Associate Director of the STAR-PREP program preparing underrepresented students for doctoral studies.

Her educational background includes:

• Morgan State University: BS in Chemistry (1992)
• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health: PhD in Environmental Health Sciences (2000)
• National Cancer Institute, NIH: Postdoctoral Fellowship in Laboratory of Experimental Carcinogenesis (2001)
• Georgetown University, Lombardi Cancer Center: Postdoctoral Fellowship in Tumor Biology (2005)
• University of Maryland, Baltimore: MPH in Community and Population Health (2018)

Dr. Jones is a biosocial researcher integrating basic biomedical sciences with community health to address cancer health disparities. Her work employs participatory health research approaches building community-academic partnerships focused on biological, environmental, and social factors in breast cancer. She has expanded to transdisciplinary collaborations diagnosing complex health issues and developing context-specific strategies for eliminating disparities through co-generated knowledge.

Her recent publications (2021-2024) emphasize health equity, participatory research, and cancer disparities, with key themes including financial toxicity in cancer care, community engagement, and training underrepresented students. This body of work bridges laboratory-based cancer biology with population health approaches while addressing power dynamics in research partnerships.

Dr. Jones has received the following awards:

• UMB Community-Based Engagement & Learning Faculty Fellow (2015)
• Delta Omega National Honor Society (2021)

As Associate Director of STAR-PREP, Dr. Jones mentors underrepresented students for doctoral programs. She co-PI'd a UMB CGEI seed grant for the 'Development of a Community-Academic Partnership Learning Exchange' and serves as Education Lead for The Journey Continues Breast Cancer Survivorship Group. Her leadership extends to the Center for Epigenetic Research in Child Health and Brain Development.

Dr. Jones co-founded the Baltimore Gift Economy, a community-based organization building communities of compassion in Baltimore City, and leads transdisciplinary teams within the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center.