Mary Ann Jones, Ph.D., is Chief Executive Officer of Westside Community Services, where she has served the agency for more than two decades, including sixteen years as CEO. With forty years of experience as a clinician, researcher, and senior administrator, she is widely recognized as a visionary leader in community-based behavioral health, with expertise in Joint Commission Accreditation and Medicaid-funded programming.
Dr. Jones grew up in San Francisco's Fillmore District and has dedicated her career to serving the community that shaped her. Her path into healthcare leadership began in the mid-1980s, when she joined the San Francisco Department of Public Health AIDS Office as a senior administrator — relocating and expanding the office's operations across five branches from a small Market Street office to 25 Van Ness Avenue during a pivotal moment in the AIDS crisis. She subsequently contributed to groundbreaking research at the Bay Area Perinatal AIDS Clinic at UCSF, including the first AZT study conducted with pregnant women, and went on to serve programs addressing substance use among pregnant women, including the Family Addiction Center for Education and Treatment and the Bayview Hunters Point Alice Griffith Crack Cocaine Program. Her commitment to addressing the global AIDS epidemic led her to India, where she worked to address its disproportionate impact on women.
A nationally and internationally recognized voice on women's issues, Dr. Jones has shaped public policy at the highest levels. She was appointed by Governor Jeb Bush to serve as Vice-Chair of the Governor's Task Force on Domestic Violence in Florida, and she served on the transition team of then-Attorney General Kamala Harris. Her additional leadership roles include the Florida Leadership Team of the Family Violence Prevention Fund, Board President of the New Sudan Generation in South Sudan, the Board of the San Francisco Public Health Foundation, the San Francisco Mental Health Board, and Founding Lifetime Member of Athena International.
Dr. Jones's international footprint is extensive. She has served as an advisor to the African Union in Darfur, Sudan; partnered with Partners of the Americas and EDUCARE to address child labor and advance violence prevention in Georgetown, Guyana; and provided consultation to the Directorate of Gender Affairs in Antigua and the Ministry of Social Development, Community and Gender Affairs in St. Kitts. Her work in grassroots program development, sexual violence, and mental health literacy spans India, Pakistan, Brazil, Africa, and the Caribbean.
Dr. Jones holds a Ph.D. from the Wright Institute and a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Mills College. Her academic and clinical training includes studies at Spelman College, Howard University College of Medicine, Georgetown University School of Medicine, and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is a recipient of the prestigious Society for Neuroscience Fellowship and is currently a fellow in the Mastery School for Leadership in Newry, Northern Ireland.