Dr. Jones is a clinical pharmacologist/pharmacoepidemiologist trained in geriatrics and internal medicine with a longstanding interest in the study of adverse drug reactions, drug utilization, and drug development and regulation. She received her medical training at Baylor College of Medicine, followed by clinical training in internal medicine, a fellowship in clinical pharmacology, and a PhD in developmental pharmacology at University of California, San Francisco.
Interested in the translation of basic pharmacology information to the practice site, she practiced, taught clinical pharmacology, and carried out early research in drug utilization at Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco until 1978, when she came to Washington, DC as Director of the FDA\u27s Division of Drug Experience (now the Office of Drug Safety) until 1984.
Leaving the FDA, she returned to practice medicine and geriatrics at Georgetown University, where she continues as Adjunct Clinical Professor of Pharmacology. She also holds Adjunct Professor appointments at George Washington University School of Public Health, and the University of Michigan School of Public Health Summer Epidemiology program where she teaches a one-week course in pharmacoepidemiology. She has also served as a PhD Examiner at the Karolinska Institute, and as a member of several NIH and AHRQ Study Sections.
In 1988, she began a consulting business, The Degge Group, Ltd. (Degge). The mission of The Degge Group, Ltd. is to optimize the therapy and prevention of disease in populations in the U.S. and abroad through regulatory support, innovative epidemiological research, education, and product development. In pursuit of this mission, Degge works on behalf of pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare company clients, healthcare systems, and government agencies. Degge provides timely and novel solutions to safety issues from regulatory, scientific, and public health perspectives. Dr. Jones also serves as President of the Pharmaceutical Education and Research Institute (PERI) a non-profit organization that provides a range of educational courses on drug development.
Throughout her career, Dr. Jones has been dedicated to international cooperation and communication in the field of drug safety. Beginning in 1978, while at FDA, Dr. Jones represented the FDA to the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for International Drug Monitoring in Uppsala, Sweden, serving as Chair from 1981-85. She has served on the International Society for Pharmacoepidemiology Board since 1989, including terms as President and VP Finance. In 1990, she helped found and served on the Executive Committee of The International Medical Benefit Risk Foundation - RAD-AR, Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Jones has chaired the Committee on Drug Utilization for the U.S. Pharmacopoeia (USP) in the early 1990’s, and is a member the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) Standardized Medical Query (SMQ) Working Group since 2004. She has represented international pharmaceutical companies before U.S., European and other international regulatory bodies on drug development, safety and risk management issues.
Dr. Jones has published numerous articles relating to adverse reactions, post marketing surveillance of drugs, pharmacoepidemiology and natural history of disease, drugs in populations (i.e., geriatric, pediatric patients) and drug information for patients and physicians
