About the Author
David K. Jones, PhD
(1981-2021)
Associate Professor Boston University School of Public Health
Department of Health Law, Policy, and Management
David K. Jones (1981-2021) was an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Law, Policy and Management at Boston University’s School of Public Health. He was the inaugural Editor-in-Chief of www.PublicHealthPost.org, an online forum for public health policy launched in November 2016. His research examines the politics of health reform and the social determinants of health. He was a lead researcher examining health care policies for COVID-19 US State Policies. His first book “Exchange Politics: Opposing Obamacare in Battleground States” (Oxford University Press 2017) focuses on how states made decisions around what type of health insurance exchange to establish as part of the Affordable Care Act’s implementation. His book Ripples of Hope in the Mississippi Delta: Charting the Health Equity Policy Agenda (University of North Carolina Press) uses Photovoice to examine the social determinants of health in the Mississippi Delta, re-tracing Robert Kennedy’s steps in the region.
He also studied Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and health reform in France. He has been cited in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal among other media outlets. He testified before the Michigan Legislature’s House Health Policy Committee during their consideration of a health insurance exchange. He was awarded Association of University Programs in Health Administration’s (AUPHA.org) John D. Thompson Prize for Young Investigators, Academy Health’s Outstanding Dissertation Award, and the Boston University School of Public Health Excellence in Teaching Award. David earned a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Health Services, Organizations, and Policy, a Master of Arts (MA) in Political Science from the University of Michigan, a Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) from the University of North Carolina, and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from McGill University. Prior to graduate school he interned in the Idaho Legislature, the Canadian House of Commons, and Congressman Charlie Rangel’s district office in Harlem, NY. David is originally from New York City where he worked as a pretzel vendor at Yankee Stadium.
Areas of Research and Expertise
Politics of Health Reform
Obama Care
Medicaid
State Health Exchanges
Health Care Policies for
COVID-19 State Policies
Social Determinants of Health
Health Equity and Justice
Why did David do his research in the MS Delta? How does the Delta apply to the rest of the country?
Public health scholars use the terms “social determinants of health” and “structural racism” to explain that health is affected by many factors in addition to access to medical care, and that a person’s experience with each issue is dramatically influenced by their race. This includes food security, neighborhood infrastructure, policing, housing, jobs, and educational opportunity. Studies even show that helping people overcome racial disparities, such as in education and employment, often has limited long-term effects on their health and wealth because the cumulative effect of all the other barriers is too great.
A new kind of research is needed which investigates how all the factors affecting health and creating disparities come together in a single place. This work needs to be grounded in an understanding of the political structures that shape resources and opportunities for health. The Mississippi Delta is an ideal place to examine given that it is arguably the least healthy place in the United States, with health outcomes that rank among the worst in the nation and that are in some cases comparable to outcomes in developing countries.
David spent four years visiting the Delta to conduct interviews and focus groups with residents and local leaders. He gave people cameras and used the pictures they took as a jumping off point for conversations about their lives and their communities. This book weaves their insights with analysis of data to highlight the policies driving the relationships between race, place, and health. Robert Kennedy’s visit to the Mississippi Delta in 1967 is used as a narrative arc throughout this book, but the focus is on the people and policies that make up the Delta today. The lessons are ultimately hopeful and applicable beyond the Delta: understanding and changing the policies that make it hard to be healthy will move us closer to achieving health and racial equity.
David was uniquely qualified to write this book given his training and research at the intersection of public health, public policy, and political science.
David cared about people.
He assumed the best of people.
He also believed that health equity is possible.
He wrote: “…the depth of inequality in the Delta is not accidental, nor is it a matter of poor people refusing to work or not trying hard enough to better their situation. It is the result of decisions made by policy and business leaders over centuries which have systematically privileged some at the expense of others. That these challenges are the result of policy choices is infuriating but should also be a source of hope, suggesting that these conditions are not inevitable and can be changed through leadership and policy.”
David K. Jones, PhD, (2024). Ripples of Hope in the Mississippi Delta: Charting the Health Equity Policy Agenda, pg. 120.
“I believe health equity is possible. We can become a country in which we cannot predict how likely someone is to be healthy based on their race, their ethnicity, where they live, or other demographic characteristics – a society in which everyone has equal opportunity to be healthy in the fullest sense of the word, not just the absence of disease but a ‘state of complete physical, emotional, well-being’.”
– David K. Jones, PhD, (2024).
Ripples of Hope in the Mississippi Delta: Charting the Health Equity Policy Agenda, Prologue, page 1 and Constitution of the World Health Organization.
Contributions of David’s Book
David wrote the book for the general public, legislators, public health leaders, educators, students, clinicians, and advocates.
“Others have written about the effects of social structures on health, but I do not know of any work that brings together statistics and stories to comprehensively examine how these factors intersect and interact in a single place.”
David K. Jones, PhD, (2024). Ripples of Hope in the Mississippi Delta: Charting the Health Equity Policy Agenda, pg.xvi.
Key Contributions:
01. Provides an in-depth explanation of how structures and policies affect individuals’ options and choices that in turn affect their health.
02. Summarizes vast amounts of information in a very approachable and understandable manner making the book accessible to a wide audience, not just academics or experts.
03. The book is an essential and practical guide with examples of what does and does not support a community-based, context specific, and goal-oriented approach to health equity policy.
04. The policy goals, recommendations, and policy examples in five key domains (food, neighborhoods, jobs, education, and healthcare) have broad applicability that should guide local, national, and state policies.
05. First-hand narratives illustrate on-the-ground perspectives combined with data to deeply explore factors that facilitate and factors that are barriers to health equity.
06. Highlights community strengths and resilience in the Delta as examples of how members of communities can overcome structural impediments to health and economic well-being. These positive examples can guide similar efforts in other communities.
The title of the book and the individuals and organizations that David identifies as “Ripples of Hope” in the Mississippi Delta were inspired by this quote from the talk Robert F. Kennedy gave on June 6, 1966 in Cape Town, South Africa.
“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events….It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
David’s Death
Jones was killed in September 2021– at age 40 while his book was undergoing peer review.. He fell through rusted stairs that were known to be unsafe but were not properly secured or removed. He died in a preventable accident that occurred due to lack of investment in public infrastructure.
His death underscores the main point of his book: people suffer, even die, when society does not uphold its values to protect each other.
Image#1: The staircase David accessed had not been properly secured, there were no signs stating the stairs were a safety hazard, and the missing stairs were not visible at the bottom of the staircase because the staircase had a turn with a second landing prior to reaching the section of the staircase with the missing stairs. Also, some of the stairs broke off when David stepped on them. In addition, the exit at the top of the stairs was properly secured so no one could go down the stairs. It does not make any sense that they did not secure the bottom of the stairs like they did the top of the stairs.
Image #2: Immediately after David died a fence was erected that made it impossible for people to access the stairs from either direction.
A week after David died the entire staircase was removed.
David would be a live today If this fence had been put into place when the stairs had been condemned. People, even via tweets, for over a year had been publicly alerting the MBTA authorities that the staircase posed a safety hazard. Yet, the authorities ignored these concerns and the staircase was not properly secured.