Leadership

Public Health Surveillance and Informatics Program Office (proposed) (PHSIPO)

Division of Informatics Practice, Policy and Coordination

Rick Jones - Associate Director of Communications

Richard Jones is the Director of Communications for the Division of Informatics, Practice, Policy and Coordination in the Public Health Surveillance and Informatics Program Office (proposed) (PHSIPO) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. In this role, Rick is working to establish a team that can thoroughly communicate the complex and important informatics advances being realized everyday at CDC.

Prior to joining the public health informatics community at CDC, Rick served as the Director of Communications in the BioPHusion program at the National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases. Working in this unit exposed Rick to the numerous surveillance activities occurring in plant, animal, and human health and he began working closely with the Biosurveillance Coordination Unit during the formation of “The National Biosurveillance Strategy for Human Health,” an intergovernmental strategy plan currently under the management of the CDC.

When Rick joined CDC he began what would become 5 years of work on the CDC Emergency Communication System. He wore many hats in this position, including a 6 month detail as the unit Acting Director, but his focus was operations and relationship management. Rick has performed multiple emergency deployments for the agency, serving as a field public affairs officer for the CDC as well as the State of Mississippi. He has also deployed alongside USPHS officers on the Secretary’s Emergency Response Team and has served as the ESF8 representative in the FEMA Area Field Office, Joint Field Office, and Regional Operations Center. Rick has participated in over 100 emergency response and exercise activities at the CDC, including his most recent missions: 90 day detail for the Haiti Earthquake and approximately 6 months of service to the CDC Pandemic response.

Prior to joining the CDC in 2003, Rick worked five years at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services as the regional manager for the Medicare Education & Outreach Campaign – Region IV. In this role, he was the key spokesperson for the program and oversaw an extensive group of stakeholders and partners who spearheaded innovative activities to inform the 8.2MM Medicare beneficiaries in the South.

Rick has a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Georgia State University and has received extensive training in emergency response and public affairs. Rick has received multiple awards during his career with the Department of Health & Human Services, including the DHHS Employee of the Month, the CMS Administrator’s Award, and the Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service.

Rick is a simple man who likes fast cars and saltwater fishing. 2010 will mark 20 years of marriage for Rick and Alicia, who have a 12yr old daughter named Isabelle.