American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare

Barbara Jones, PhD

Active | Inducted in 2021

Current Position

Board Member

Bio

Dr. Barbara Jones, PhD, MSW, FAOSW, is dean and professor at Boston University School of Social Work. She is one of the nation’s top scholars in the field of psychosocial oncology and palliative care. Prior to joining BUSSW, she was a member of the faculty and leadership at the UT Austin School of Social Work at for nearly twenty years. At UT Austin, Jones served as university distinguished professor, Lockhart Memorial Professor in Direct Social Work Practice, founding director of the Institute for Collaborative Health Research and Practice, and associate dean for health affairs in the university’s Steve Hicks School of Social Work. She was also a distinguished professor and inaugural chair of the Department of Health Social Work at UT Austin’s Dell Medical School – a department she helped build to bridge the social work and medical schools.

Jones earned her PhD and MSW in social welfare from the University at Albany (NY) and practiced as a clinical social worker for 15 years. She is currently on the national advisory boards for the Cambia Health Foundation Sojourns Scholars Leadership Program and the American Cancer Society’s Center for Diversity in Research Training. She serves on the national steering committee of the Coalition for Social Work and Health. Her research, which has been supported by major grants from the National Institutes of Health and the American Cancer Society, focuses on improving care for children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer and their families.

In addition to co-editing three acclaimed books in oncology and palliative care and publishing more than 130 articles in top-tier journals, Jones is a past recipient of the Association of Pediatric Oncology Social Workers Social Worker of the Year award and was inducted into the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare in 2020. She was recently elected to the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare Board and became the first social worker to receive the American Cancer Society’s Pathfinder in Palliative Care Award. She is a distinguished scholar and fellow of the National Academies of Practice and was named 2023 fellow of both the American Psychosocial Oncology Society and the Association of Oncology Social Work.

https://socialwork.utexas.edu/directory/barbara-l-jones/