Dr. Rick J. Jones

Richard J. Jones, M.D., is a Professor of Oncology and Medicine, Director of the Bone Marrow Transplantation Program, and Co-Director of the Hematologic Malignancies Program at The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Jones received his Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Bucknell University prior to completing his medical degree at the Temple University School of Medicine. He then completed his residency at Temple University Hospital, where he was appointed to serve as Chief Resident in Internal Medicine. Dr. Jones later came to Johns Hopkins to complete his Medical Oncology Fellowship, and was then recruited to the faculty. Dr. Jones’ research is aimed at better understanding the biology of normal and cancer stem cells, with the goal of translating promising findings to the clinic particularly in the area of blood and marrow transplantation (BMT). Dr. Jones' laboratory discovered one the most commonly-used stem cell markers, Aldefluor which identifies cells based on their expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 1 (ALDH1), and have used this marker to identify and characterize normal stem cells and cancer stem cells from many hematologic malignancies. This work also led to the development of post-transplant cyclophosphamide and effective related haploidentical BMT. Cyclophosphamide is metabolized by ALDH1, which is the reason both stem cells and memory lymphocytes are resistant to the drug. Recently, Dr. Jones' laboratory found that cytochrome P450 enzymes are a major mechanism by which the bone marrow stem cell niche protects both normal and leukemia stem cells. Dr. Jones co-leads the Hematologic Malignancies and Bone Marrow Transplantation Research Program. In addition to his promising work in the laboratory, Dr. Jones is recognized as a gifted mentor. During his tenure at Hopkins, he has trained a generation of leading physician-scientists who have excelled at Johns Hopkins and across the country. Dr. Jones has also authored numerous peer-reviewed articles that have been published in such prestigious journals as Blood, Nature, the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, PNAS, the Annals of Internal Medicine, the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, the British Journal of Haematology, and Leukemia.

Dr. Jones is rated as an Experienced provider by MediFind in the treatment of Chronic Graft Versus Host Disease (cGvHD). His top areas of expertise are Acute Myeloblastic Leukemia without Maturation, Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma, and Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS).