Jonathan E. Fielding, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., M.A.
IAPHS Staff
Jonathan E. Fielding, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., M.A., has contributed to the fields of public health and prevention for 45 years and has served in a variety of leadership positions. He is a Distinguished Professor of Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and a Professor of Pediatrics at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, where he has been a tenured faculty member since 1979.
Dr. Fielding led the public health activities for Los Angeles County as Director of Public Health and Health Officer for 16 years until 2014. In this role, Dr. Fielding was responsible for all public health functions including surveillance and control of both communicable and non-communicable diseases, and health protection (including against bioterrorism) for the County’s 9.8 million residents. He directed a staff of nearly 4,000 with an annual budget exceeding $850 million. Dr. Fielding also served as Commissioner of the First 5 L.A. Commission, which provides over $100 million in funding annually for programs to improve the health and development of children 0-5 years.
The public health school was renamed the UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health in 2012 in recognition of their generosity and Dr. Fielding’s many contributions to improving the public’s health. I
n addition to his UCLA work he has been a founding member and long time chair of the U.S. Community Preventive Services Task Force, and was a founding member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. Both Task Forces assess the evidence for and make national recommendations on the effectiveness of health relevant policies, programs and practices. Dr. Fielding is the long serving Editor of the Annual Review of Public Health and the immediate past Board Chair of the American Legacy Foundation. He is a Presidential appointee and founding member of the national Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health. He serves on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Advisory Committee to the Director, and is the Chair of the CDC Task Force on Community Preventive Service. Dr. Fielding additionally serves on the Editorial Board of the MMWR (Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report). Formerly he chaired the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s expert advisory group on the national 2020 Healthy People Project. Dr. Fielding previously served as Commissioner of Public Health for Massachusetts and is an elected member of the Academy of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Fielding is the founder of the UCLA Center for Health Advancement whose mission is to supply evidence-based information to key policy decision-makers in California and around the country, and thus help them choose policies and programs that best improve collective health and reduce health disparities among our citizens.
Dr. Fielding has authored more than 300 original articles, commentaries and editorials on public health and prevention issues. His current research interests include the effectiveness of governmental and private sector policies and programs to improve health and cost-effectiveness. His research also covers how to better invest the excessive resources in our health care system to yield lasting improvements in health and well-being.
He received his medical, public health and history of science degrees from Harvard University and an MBA in finance from the Wharton School of Business.
