Daniel W. Jones, MD, is a global medical humanitarian and activist for social justice, especially healthcare access. Over a long and diverse career, he has served as a physician, medical missionary, medical school professor and dean, medical researcher, and university chancellor. He has a long association with the University of Mississippi (UM), serving in a number of capacities including vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine from 2003-2009 and as chancellor of the university from 2009 until 2015. 

Under his leadership as chancellor, UM undertook a major initiative to promote diversity across all its campuses and experienced an unprecedented construction boom, including new academic, residential, and athletics facilities. During his tenure as chancellor, enrollment surged more than 26 percent, and private giving to the university hit record highs, topping $100 million for four consecutive years including a record $138 million in fiscal year 2015. One of Jones’s passions is volunteer service, and he has led UM faculty, staff, and students to contribute thousands of hours to causes across the Oxford community, the state, and around the world.

A native Mississippian, he graduated from Mississippi College in 1971, earned his MD in 1975 at the UM Medical Center, and completed his residency in internal medicine there in 1978. He had a private medical practice in Laurel, MS. Then, in 1985, he and his family moved to South Korea where he lived and worked for seven years, fulfilling a passion for healthcare service to underserved populations. For more than twenty-five years, he has served as a medical education consultant to medical schools in North Korea and was engaged in health-related humanitarian activities in Iran, China, and Russia.

His research activities have focused on prevention of cardiovascular disease and racial and economic disparities in health outcomes. He was the first principal investigator for the landmark Jackson Heart Study, a National Institutes of Health-sponsored population study focused on identifying causes of disparate rates of heart disease in African Americans.

Active in the American Heart Association (AHA), Jones was the 2007-2008 national president and for years served as a national spokesperson on high blood pressure. He serves as chair of the writing committee for the 2025 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Blood Pressure Management Guideline. 

He also represented the AHA on the ACC/AHA Guideline Writing Committee for the 2017 Hypertension Management Guidelines and the ACC/AHA Guideline Writing Group for the 2018 Cholesterol Management Guidelines.  

A master of the American College of Physicians, he is certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine and is designated as a specialist in clinical hypertension by the American Society of Hypertension. Jones was named one of the “Best Doctors in America” from 1996 to 2008 and is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.

Active in church and community organizations, Jones serves on the Copiah County Medical Center Board of Directors and as president of the Hazlehurst City School District Board. His work in racial reconciliation has been recognized with the Mississippi Center for Justice 2015 Champions of Justice Award and as one of two honorees at the 2016 Jackson Friendship Ball.  He is married to the former Lydia Channell of Jackson and has two children and six grandchildren.