Laundette P. Jones, PhD, MPH

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

Dr. Jones is a biosocial researcher with broad training and expertise in the basic biomedical sciences and community and population health. For over 15 years, Dr. Jones led a research laboratory utilizing cell culture and animal models to identify genetic and environmental risk factors for breast cancer. She received international recognition for her contributions towards understanding of the relationship between BRCA1 mutations, sex hormone levels, and cancer risk. Her completion of the MPH degree has uniquely positioned Dr. Jones to build transdisciplinary research teams (from basic scientists, clinicians, public health experts, to communities) that seek to address cancer health disparities through the understanding of the interplay of biological, environmental, and social factors. Currently, her research program utilizes a participatory health research approach to create community-academic partnerships that share and co-generate knowledge to produce comprehensive, context-specific strategies for eliminating health disparities.

Her research program has broadened to work more collaboratively across scientific disciplines and engaging community partners to diagnose complex health issues through the understanding of the interplay of biological, environmental, and social factors.  To cultivate this transdisciplinary effort, Dr. Jones and partners, Ulysses & Chrysalinn Archie (Co-founders of the Baltimore Gift Economy) were awarded and served as co-PIs for a seed grant from the UMB Center for Global Education Initiatives (CGEI) for their project entitled, “Development of a Community-Academic Partnership (CAP) Learning Exchange in West/Southwest Baltimore.”  The Baltimore Gift Economy, a program of Fusion Partnerships, Inc., is community-based organization in Baltimore City that seeks to bridge and build communities of compassion, trust and wholeness (https://baltimoregifteconomy.wordpress.com).  

Dr. Jones’ professional activities also include key leadership roles in training, education and outreach. She is the Associate Director for the Science Training for Advancing biomedical Research Post-baccalaureate Research Education Program (STAR-PREP). This NIGMS-funded mentored research training program is designed to encourage and prepare recent baccalaureate graduates, coming from underrepresented groups in the biomedical sciences, for successful entry into Ph.D. or M.D./Ph.D. programs. Dr. Jones also served as the Associate Director of Community and Social Impact for the Center for Epigenetic Research in Child Health and Brain Development (CERCH) at UMSOM. In this role, she provides expertise in building trusting community-academic partnerships, including helping to coordinate, develop, and maintain research infrastructure to enable community participation and developing research protocols that work effectively in community settings. 

Community & Population Health, Participatory Health Research, Mammary gland carcinogenesis, Adipose tissue biology, Breast Cancer Survivorship, Health Disparities, Environmental Health Sciences

1. Jones LP, Li M, Halama ED, Ma Y, Lubet R, Grubbs CJ, Deng CX, Rosen EM, Furth PA. Promotion of mammary cancer development by tamoxifen in a mouse model of Brca1-mutation-related breast cancer. Oncogene. 2005 May 19;24(22):3554-62. doi: 10.1038/sj.onc.1208426. PubMed PMID: 15750629.
2. Herschkowitz JI, Simin K, Weigman VJ, Mikaelian I, Usary J, Hu Z, Rasmussen KE, Jones LP, Assefnia S, Chandrasekharan S, Backlund MG, Yin Y, Khramtsov AI, Bastein R, Quackenbush J, Glazer RI, Brown PH, Green JE, Kopelovich L, Furth PA, Palazzo JP, Olopade OI, Bernard PS, Churchill GA, Van Dyke T, Perou CM. Identification of conserved gene expression features between murine mammary carcinoma models and human breast tumors.Genome Biol. 2007;8(5):R76. doi: 10.1186/gb-2007-8-5-r76. PubMed PMID: 17493263; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1929138.
3. Jones LP, Tilli MT, Assefnia S, Torre K, Halama ED, Parrish A, Rosen EM, Furth PA. Activation of estrogen signaling pathways collaborates with loss of Brca1 to promote development of ERalpha-negative and ERalpha-positive mammary preneoplasia and cancer. Oncogene. 2008 Jan 31;27(6):794-802. doi: 10.1038/sj.onc.1210674. Epub 2007 Jul 23. PubMed PMID: 17653086; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3045705.
4. Jones LP, Sampson A, Kang HJ, Kim HJ, Yi YW, Kwon SY, Babus JK, Wang A, Bae I. Loss of BRCA1 leads to an increased sensitivity to Bisphenol A. Toxicol Lett. 2010 Dec 15;199(3):261-8. doi: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2010.09.008. Epub 2010 Sep 22. PubMed PMID: 20868731; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3505996.
5. Jones LP, Buelto D, Tago E, Owusu-Boaitey KE. Abnormal Mammary Adipose Tissue Environment of Brca1 Mutant Mice Show a Persistent Deposition of Highly Vascularized Multilocular Adipocytes. J Cancer Sci Ther. 2011 Dec 8;(Suppl 2). doi: 10.4172/1948-5956.s2-004. PubMed PMID: 24501658; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3851023.
6.  Vucenik I, Stains JP, Jones LP. The Link Between Obesity and Cancer. Periodicum Biologiorum. 2014; 116:347-353.
7. Cao Q, Hersl J, La H, Smith M, Jenkins J, Goloubeva O, Dilsizian V, Tkaczuk K, Chen W, Jones L. A pilot study of FDG PET/CT detects a link between brown adipose tissue and breast cancer. BMC Cancer. 2014 Feb 25;14:126. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-14-126. PubMed PMID: 24564204; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3937456.
8. Sigl V^#, Owusu-Boaitey K^#, Joshi PA, Kavirayani A, Wirnsberger G, Novatchkova M, Kozieradzki I, Schramek D, Edokobi N, Hersl J, Sampson A, Odai-Afotey A, Lazaro C, Gonzalez-Suarez E, Pujana MA, Cimba F, Heyn H, Vidal E, Cruickshank J, Berman H, Sarao R, Ticevic M, Uribesalgo I, Tortola L, Rao S, Tan Y, Pfeiler G, Lee EY, Bago-Horvath Z, Kenner L, Popper H, Singer C, Khokha R, Jones LP^#, Penninger^#. JM. RANKL/RANK control Brca1 mutation-driven tumors. Cell Res. 2016 Jul;26(7):761-74. doi: 10.1038/cr.2016.69. Epub 2016 May 31. PubMed PMID: 27241552; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5129883. ^#Contributed equally.
9. Jones LP, Slade JL, Davenport F, Santos SLZ, Knott CL. Planning for Community Scale-Up of Project HEAL: Insights From the SPRINT Initiative.Health Promot Pract. 2020 Nov;21(6):944-951. doi: 10.1177/1524839918824087. Epub 2019 Jan 24. PubMed PMID: 30678512; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6656629.
10. Egid B, K O, G H, Zimmerman E, Lopez Y, Roura M, Sheikhattari P, Jones L, Dias S, Wallerstein N. Can everyone hear me? Reflections on the use of global online participatory workshops for exploring power in participatory research. Qualitative Research. 2021 June.
11. Egid BR, Roura M, Aktar B, Amegee Quach J, Chumo I, Dias S, Hegel G, Jones L, Karuga R, Lar L, López Y, Pandya A, Norton TC, Sheikhattari P, Tancred T, Wallerstein N, Zimmerman E, Ozano K. 'You want to deal with power while riding on power': global perspectives on power in participatory health research and co-production approaches. BMJ Glob Health. 2021 Nov;6(11). doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-006978. PubMed PMID: 34764147; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8587355.
12. Sharmeen A, Perry C, Archie C, Archie U, Edwards L, Jones L. Perspectives on Benefits and Challenges to Developing a Co-Teaching/Co-learning Exchange between Community and Academic Partners. Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research Education and Action. 2022. In Press