Rebecca Jones, BS ’10, MS ’12, PhD ’17, has built her career on listening to communities and ensuring their voices shape the future of health research.
Jones is an assistant professor in the Department of Population Health Sciences at the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine and holds leadership roles within UT San Antonio’s Health Science Center at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR), the Mays Cancer Center and the Institute for the Integration of Medicine and Science.
In each of these roles, the professor’s focus is on working with communities to improve health outcomes across South Texas.
“I grew up in the [Rio Grande] Valley, and I want to give back to the communities that shaped me,” Jones said. “UT San Antonio gave me the foundation to do that. The mentors I had and the opportunities I found there changed my life, and now I get to use what I learned to help others.”
Jones’ path to public health research began at UT San Antonio. She arrived from Brownsville planning to study biology and pursue physical therapy, but an undergraduate internship with faculty member, Zenong Yin, PhD, the Loretta J. Lowak Clarke Distinguished Professor in Health and Kinesiology in the College for Health, Community and Policy, introduced her to research.
Working on a childhood obesity prevention project in San Antonio’s Edgewood Independent School District, Jones discovered both a passion and a talent for research that changed her trajectory.
“Through that internship, I was introduced to research and realized how much I loved it,” she said. “It came naturally to me, and my mentor encouraged me to continue my studies. UT San Antonio gave me the space to explore, and that exploration led me to a career I had never imagined for myself.”
It also connected her with Amelie Ramirez, DrPH, MPH, director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT San Antonio’s Health Science Center and chair of the Long School of Medicine Department of Population Health Sciences. After earning her bachelor’s degree, Jones joined Ramirez’s team, an opportunity that gave her early experience in health promotion research and helped her see how academic research could serve the community.
The encouragement of both mentors led Jones to pursue graduate studies and she ultimately earned three degrees from UT San Antonio, including a bachelor’s degree in exercise physiology in 2010, a master’s in community health in 2012 and a doctorate in applied demography in 2017.
Jones credits the mentorship and academic rigor she found at UT San Antonio with preparing her to lead projects that directly serve the community.
Among her proudest efforts is a project funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute that developed a roadmap for cancer research focused on liver cancer, cervical cancer and pediatric leukemia, which occur at disproportionately high rates in South Texas.
“We took the time to listen to survivors and caregivers,” Jones said. “The research priorities we created are based on what matters most to them. To me, that is what meaningful research looks like. It’s not just about answering questions in a lab but about making sure the answers improve lives.”
Looking back, Jones said UT San Antonio gave her the chance to discover her passion and the confidence to pursue it. “I never imagined I would go on to earn a PhD and take on leadership roles in research,” she said. “UT San Antonio helped me see what was possible and gave me the skills to get there. I carry that gratitude with me every day.”
Her advice for current students is to remain curious and open to opportunities. “I was one-track-minded about physical therapy, but I took an internship in research and it changed everything,” she said. “Be open to opportunities. You never know what might spark your passion, and you never know where UT San Antonio might take you.”
