Jonathan Fielding Explained

Jonathan Fielding
Office:	Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
Term Start:	4 April 2008
Term End:	2014^[1]
Successor:	Barbara Ferrer^[2]
Office1:	Health Officer for Los Angeles County
Term End1:	2014
Successor1:	Jeffrey Gunzenhauser
Spouse:	Karin Fielding
Occupation:	Physician, professor, and philanthropist

Jonathan Evan Fielding (born 1942) is a board-certified physician in both Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine,^[3] and the former director and health officer of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. At UCLA, he is a Distinguished Professor in the Fielding School of Public Health and a Professor in the David Geffen School of Medicine.^[4] He is the founder and co-director of the UCLA Center for Health Advancement in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.^[5]

Fielding was elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) in 1995.^[6] He has served as President (1997-1999) of the American College of Preventive Medicine^{[7] [3]} and as editor of the Annual Review of Public Health.

Early life and education

In 1964, Fielding received a B.A. in French from Williams College. He attended Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Harvard University, School of Medicine in 1969 and two years later graduated from Harvard School of Public Health. While attending medical school, he conducted residencies in pediatrics at the Boston Children's Hospital and Georgetown University Medical Center.^[8] In 1977, he received an MBA from Wharton School of Business.^[9]

Career

Fielding was the Principal Medical Services National Officer for Job Corps in the United States Department of Labor from 1971-1973 and a Special Assistant to the Director in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Fielding served as Director of the Health Services Administration within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1974 to 1975. Fielding served as Commissioner of Public Health in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1975-1979.

In 1979, Fielding became Professor of Public Health and Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he founded the Center for Health Enhancement Education and Research. From 1995-2008 Fielding also co-directed the Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities. Dr. Fielding became a Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Medicine at UCLA in 2011.

In 1983, Dr. Fielding founded US Corporate Health Management Incorporated, providing consulting to corporations on health care policy. In 1986 Johnson & Johnson took over the company. It became Johnson & Johnson Health Management, with Fielding as Senior Vice President. Fielding left Johnson & Johnson in 1993.

In 1996, Dr. Fielding became the Acting Health Officer and Senior Policy Advisor to the Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. In 1998, Fielding became Director and Health Officer of the Department of Health Services.^[10] On May 30, 2006, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the establishment of a separate Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. It was formally established on July 7, 2006, with Fielding appointed as its Director in August 23, 2006.^[11] He served for over 16 years as Director and County Health Officer,^[12] dealing with the health and safety of over 10 million people in Los Angeles, California.^[13]

Fielding oversaw public health activities, including those for environmental health, disease control, health education, health assessment, and chronic diseases. During his tenure, Fielding led efforts to develop plans to deal with emergencies related to natural disasters, bioterrorism, pandemic flu, and other emerging threats to health and safety. He also called attention to the underlying determinants of health, including wide disparities in the physical and social environments in which people live.

Fielding was responsible for implementing the Los Angeles County "A B C" restaurant letter-grading system which has been widely emulated throughout the U.S.A. Under the system, businesses undergo mandatory inspections, and the results are posted so that consumers have information they can use to inform their decisions about where to eat. The program is reported to have decreased restaurant food-related illness by as much as 20 percent.Other programs discourage tobacco use and encourage healthy nutrition, physical activity, and serving of appropriately-sized portions by restaurants.^[14]

Fielding was a witness for the 2002 Little Hoover Commission Public Hearing, appearing on June 27, 2002.^[15] Also in 2002, Fielding and Tom Frieden of New York City helped to form the Big Cities Health Coalition (BCHC) which addresses concerns of particular interest to cities with large populations, high population density, and a somewhat dysfunctional "urban core".^[16] Fielding has also served as commissioner and vice-chair of the First 5 Los Angeles Commission, whose mission is to improve health and development of children 5 years of age and under, granting over $100 million annually.^[17]

On March 27, 2014, Fielding announced that he would retire from the department and go back to UCLA "to help train future health leaders and do research on how we can be even more effective."^[18]

Fielding is the Distinguished Professor-in-Residence of Health Policy and Management in the Schools of Public Health and Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.^[19]

He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed articles, chapters and editorials, publishing on a wide range of public health and preventive medicine issues.^[19] He has served as associate editor and then editor of the Annual Review of Public Health over a 35-year period.^[20] In 2016, Fielding started writing a monthly column for U.S. News & World Report on current topics in public health.^[21] He also writes opinion pieces for The Hill.^[22]

Fielding has been a member of a number of national-level task forces that assess best evidence and make recommendations to improve the health of the public. He was a founding member of the U.S. Clinical Preventive Services Task Force. Fielding also served on the Community Preventive Services Task Force from 1996-2019, chairing it from 2001-2019.^[23]

Fielding is a former board member and former chair of the national Truth Initiative (formerly the American Legacy Foundation), which oversees $1 billion from the (year) tobacco settlement to end youth use of combustible cigarettes and other nicotine delivery devices.^{[24] [25]} He has also chaired the Partnership for Prevention, no whose behalf he testified in hearings before the Subcommittee on Health of the United States House Committee on Ways and Means in the first session of the 103rd United States Congress.^[26]

Fielding is a founding member of Shatterproof, a national organization working to end addiction,^[27] and an advisor to UCLA's Sound Body Sound Mind, improving youth fitness through enhanced school programs.^[28] He was a founding board member^[29] and chairman of the California Wellness Foundation.^[30]

In 2008, Fielding was appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services Micha el Leavitt to chair the Secretary's Advisory Committee on the 2020 Health Objectives for the Nation,^[31] and in 2016 appointed a Co-Chair emeritus for the Advisory Committee for the 2030 national Health Objectives.^[32] In January 2011 he was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health, becoming one of the 13 founding members of the group.^[33]

Philanthropy

On February 15, 2012, the School of Public Health at UCLA received a $50 million gift from the Fieldings, the largest single donation the school received since its creation in 1962. It was proposed that the school be renamed the UCLA Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health.^{[34] [35]} It is now the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.

The Fieldings also provided a lead gift to support the construction of the Fielding Wing of American Folk Art at the Huntington Library, Botanical Gardens and Art Collection in San Marino, California, donating a substantial portion of their American folk art collection to that institution. As of 2016, the first 250 items from their collection were installed at the Huntingdon. They included portraits, landscape, furniture, textiles, pottery, ironwork, and other items, generally made in New England between 1680 and 1870.^[36]

As of 2021, the Fieldings established the Jonathan and Karin Fielding Presidential Chair in Health Equity at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, naming Lara Cushing to the position. Cushing has done research into harmful environmental exposures and their disproportionate impacts on communities that are home to low-income people and people of color.^[37]

Awards and honors

• 1994, Porter Prize, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh^[38] for National Impact on Improving the Health of Americans
• 1995, Elected Member, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences (now the National Academy of Medicine)^[6]
• 2000, Distinguished Service Award for Outstanding Service, American College of Preventive Medicine
• 2003, Milton and Ruth Roemer Prize, for Creative Local Public Health Work, American Public Health Association (APHA)^[39]
• 2006, Outstanding Alumnus Award, Harvard School of Public Health
• 2006, Sedgwick Memorial Medal, American Public Health Association (APHA)^[40]
• 2007, Beverlee A. Myers Award for Excellence in Public Health, California Department of Public Health^[41]
• 2009, To LA County Environmental Health Services, the Winston Crouch Award for Innovation in Government, American Society for Public Administration^[42]
• 2009, UCLA Medal and Lester Breslow Distinguished Lectureship, University of California Los Angeles, for his work as an innovator, leader and public health visionary. The UCLA Medal is the university's highest honor.^[43]
• 2012, Honorary Fellow Award, Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE)^[44] for his visionary leadership and lifetime of contributions to public health.
• 2012, Fries Prize for Improving Health, The James F. and Sarah T. Fries Foundation, for pioneering work in identifying and applying effective worksite and public prevention programs and policies that have improved health for million of Americans.^[45]
• 2012, coauthor, Paper of the Year, American Journal of Public Health for "Health Disparities and Health Equity: The Issues Is Justice".^{[46] [47]}
• 2014, Visionary Award, Venice Family Clinic Silver Circle Gala^[48]
• 2014. Earl Warren Outstanding Public Service Award, American Society of Public Administration (ASPA)^[49]
• 2014, Kellogg Award, Williams College^[50]
• 2015, Bicentennial Medal, Williams College^[51]

Selected publications

• Adler . Nancy E. . Cutler . David M. . Fielding . Jonathan E. . Galea . Sandro . Glymour . M. Maria . Koh . Howard K. . Satcher . and David . Addressing Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities: A Vital Direction for Health and Health Care . NAM Perspectives . 19 September 2016 . 6 . 9 . 10.31478/201609t . 2578-6865. ^[52]
• Cole, B.L., Shimkhada, R., Morgenstern, H., Kominski, G., Fielding, J.E., Wu, S., "Projected Health Impact of the Los Angeles City Living Wage Ordinance" JECH, 59:645-650. (2005).
• Anderson, L.M., Brownson, R.C., Fullilove, M.T., Teutsch, St.M., Novick, L.F., Fielding, J.E., Land, G.H. "Evidence-Based Public Health Policy and Practice: Promise and Limits" Am Journal of Prev Med, 28 (5S) (2005).
• Georgenson, M., Thorpe, L.E., Merlino, M., Frieden, T.R., Fielding, J.E., The Big Cities Health Coalition, "Shortchanged? An Assessment of Chronic Disease Programming in Major US City Health Departments" J Urban Health. June;82 (2):233-4 (2005).
• Simon, P.A., Leslie, P., Run G. Jion, G.Z., Rporter, R. Aguirre, A., Fielding, J.E., "Impact of Restaurant Hygiene Grade Cards on Foodborne-Disease Hospitalizations in Los Angeles County" JEnviron Health, Mar;67 (7):32-6, 56; quiz 59060, (2005).
• Cole, B.L., Shimkhada, R., Fielding, J.E., Kominski, G., Morgenstern, H., "Methodologies for Realizing the Potential of Health Impact Assessment" Am J of Prev Med, May;28 (4):382-9, (2005).
• Cole, B.L., Shimkhada, R., Morgenstern, H., Kominski, G., Fielding, J.E., Wu, S., "Projected Health Impact of the Los Angeles City Living Wage Ordinance" JEpidemiol Community Health, 59:645-650 (2005).
• Eisenman, D.P., Wold, C., Fielding, J.E., Long, A., Setodji, C., Hickey, S., Gelberg, L., "Differences in Individual-Level Terrorism Preparedness in Los Angeles County" Am J Prev Med, (2005).
• Dannenberg, A.L., Bhatia, R., Cole, B.L., Dora, C., Fielding, J.E., Kraft, K., McClymonth-Peace, D., Mindell, J., Onyekere, C., Roberts, J.A., Ross, C.L., Rutt, C.D., Scott-Samuel, A., Tilson. H.H., "Growing the Field of Health Impact Assessment in the United States: An Agenda for Research and Practice" AM J. PH, Vol. 96, No. 2 (2006).
• Simon, P.A., Fielding, J.E., "Public Health and Business: A Partnership That Makes Cents" Health Affairs 25, no.4, 1029-1039 (2006).
• Fielding, J.E., Briss, Peter A., "Promoting Evidence-Based Public Health Policy: Can We Have Better Evidence And More Action?" Health Affairs 25, No.4, 969-978 (2006).
• Cole, B.L., Shimkhada, R., Fielding, J.E., Kominski, G., Morgenstern, H., "Health Impact Assessment: Current Practice and Future Potential to Increase Awareness of Population Health Impacts of Policy Decisions" (accepted – AM J of Prev Med).
• Cole, B.L., Shimkhada, R., Morgegenstern, H., Kominski, G., Fielding, J.E., Wu, S., "An Examination of the Potential Health Consequences of Expanded Funding for After-School Programs – The Role of Research Versus Rhetoric" (in Review – J of Policy analysis and Management).
• Yancey, A., Lewis, L., Sloane, D., Diamant, A., McCarthy, W., Guinyard, J.J., Fielding, J.E., "Walking the Talk: Process Evaluation of a Local Health Department-Community Collaboration Incorporate Physical Activity Into Organizational Practice" (in press – PubMed).
• Ockene, J.K., Edgerton, E.A., Teutsch, S.M., Marion, L.N., Miller, T., Genevro, J.L., Loveland-Cherry, C.J., Fielding, J.E., Briss, P.A., "Integrating Evidence-Based Clinical and Community Strategies to Improve Health" (in press – AJPM).

Archives

• Fielding (Jonathan E.) papers, UCLA: Library Special Collections, Medicine and Science.

Notes and References

1. News: Susan . Abram . Los Angeles County public health director announces retirement, plans to return to UCLA . March 27, 2014 . Daily News . January 25, 2018.
2. News: County appoints new public health director . The Antelope Valley Times . January 10, 2017 . January 25, 2018.
3. Web site: Jonathan E. Fielding, MD, MPH, MBA CDC Online Newsroom CDC . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. September 20, 2017 . 25 October 2021 . en-us.
4. Web site: Jonathan Fielding, M.D., M.B.A., M.P.H. . David Geffen School of Medicine . UCLA . 20 October 2021.
5. Web site: UCLA Center for Health Advancement . Fielding School of Public Health . UCLA . January 25, 2018.
6. News: UCLA Professor Of Public Health And Pediatrics Elected To Institute Of Medicine . 25 October 2021 . UCLA News . December 11, 1995.
7. Web site: A Salute to Our Leaders from the Past. 2004 . American College of Preventive Medicine . 25 October 2021.
8. Web site: Fielding (Jonathan E.) papers . Library Special Collections, Medicine and Science . UCLA . 20 October 2021.
9. Book: Stellman . Jeanne Mager . Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety . 1998 . International Labour Organization . Geneva . 978-92-2-109817-1 . 4. 4 . 20 October 2021 . en.
10. Web site: Finding Aid for the Jonathan Fielding papers Biomed.1243 . UCLA Library Special Collections . Online Archive of California . 24 October 2021.
11. News: Anderson . Troy . Fielding OK'd as director of Public Health . 24 October 2021 . Daily News . August 23, 2006.
12. Web site: Members of the Secretary's Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2030 . healthypeople.gov . 20 October 2021.
13. Web site: Sze . Donna . Accreditation Sparks New Opportunities for Community Engagement in Los Angeles County . Los Angeles County Department of Public Health . County of Los Angeles . 23 October 2021.
14. News: Gordon . Dan . A Healthy Regard for L.A. . 23 October 2021 . UCLA Magazine . July 1, 2014.
15. Book: To Protect & Prevent:Rebuilding California's Public Health System . April 10, 2003 . State of California. .
16. Sprague . James B. . Twenty Local Health Departments, 46 Million People . Journal of Public Health Management and Practice . January 2015 . 21 . Supplement 1 . S1–S3 . 10.1097/PHH.0000000000000174 . 25423050 . 4243804 . 25 October 2021.
17. Book: Committee on Health Impact Assessment. Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology. Division on Earth and Life Studies . National Research Council. Improving Health in the United States: The Role of Health Impact Assessment . 14 October 2011 . National Academies Press . Washington, DC . 978-0-309-21886-3 . 181 . 24 October 2021 . en.
18. News: Sewell . Abby . Top L.A. County public health official announces he's retiring . 24 October 2021 . Los Angeles Times . March 27, 2014.
19. Web site: Jonathan Fielding . UCLA Fielding School of Public Health . October 20, 2021.
20. Omenn . Gilbert S. . Preface . Annual Review of Public Health . 1 January 1996 . 17 . 1 . 10.1146/annurev.pu.17.031704.100001 . 23 October 2021 . 0163-7525.
21. Web site: Jonathan Fielding Opinion Contributor . U.S. News . 25 October 2021.
22. Web site: Dr. Jonathan Fielding Op-Ed Articles . UCLA . 25 October 2021.
23. Web site: Spotlight: Jonathan E. Fielding, MD, MPH, MBA . The Community Guide . February 14, 2017 . 25 October 2021.
24. Web site: Inspiring Tobacco-Free Lives: Truth Initiative 2015 Annual Report . Truth Initiative . 25 October 2021.
25. Book: Stratton . Kathleen R. . Ending the Tobacco Problem : a Blueprint for the Nation. . 2007 . National Academies Press . Washington . 978-0-309-10382-4 .
26. Book: Health Care Reform: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Health of the Committee on Ways and Means, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress, First Session Front Cover United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means. Subcommittee on Health . 1994 . U.S. Government Printing Office . Washington, D.C. . 349. 12 . 9780160463341 .
27. News: "What's Important is Impact" . 25 October 2021 . UCLA Public Health Magazine . Autumn/Winter . 2017.
28. News: Albin . Amy . UCLA Health Sound Body Sound Mind forms advisory council . 25 October 2021 . UCLA Health News . July 10, 2017.
29. Web site: Past Board Members . California Wellness Foundation . 25 October 2021.
30. Book: Brody . Jane E. . The New York Times book of health : how to feel fitter, eat better, and live longer . 1998 . Times Books . New York . 9780307815927 . 1st rev. pbk. . 25 October 2021.
31. Krisberg . Kim . Healthy People 2020 tackling social determinants of health: Input sought from health work force . The Nation's Health. American Public Health Association . 2009 . 38 . 10 . 1–25 . 25 October 2021.
32. News: Smith . Brad . FSPH's Dr. Jonathan Fielding a Key Contributor to Newly Released Healthy People 2030 . 25 October 2021 . FSPH News . UCLA Fielding School of Public Health . August 18, 2020.
33. News: Gerhard . Peters . John T. . Woolley . Press Release - President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts . 25 October 2021 . The American Presidency Project . January 26, 2011.
34. News: UCLA School of Public Health gets $50-million gift . Los Angeles Times . Anna . Gorman . February 16, 2012.
35. News: Di Mento . Maria . No. 21 (tied): Jonathan and Karin Fielding . 24 October 2021 . The Chronicle of Philanthropy . February 10, 2013.
36. News: Beach . Laura . A Flowering Of American Folk Art In California: The Jonathan and Karin Fielding Gift To The Huntington . 23 October 2021 . Antiques And The Arts Weekly . 12 May 2020.
37. Web site: Dr. Lara Cushing Appointed to Fielding Presidential Chair in Health Equity at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health . UCLA Fielding School of Public Health . NewsWire. 1 October 2021 . 20 October 2021.
38. Web site: The Porter Prize . University of Pittsburgh . 25 October 2021.
39. Web site: Previous Milton and Ruth Roemer Prize winners . American Public Health Association . 25 October 2021.
40. Web site: Previous Sedgwick Memorial Medal winners . American Public Health Association . 25 October 2021.
41. Web site: 2018 Beverlee A. Myers Award for Excellence in Public Health . California Department of Public Health . 25 October 2021.
42. Web site: Winston Crouch Award for Innovation in Government . American Society for Public Administration . 25 October 2021.
43. News: Jonathan Fielding, Public Health Leader, Awarded Prestigious UCLA Medal . 25 October 2021 . UCLA News . April 16, 2009.
44. Web site: Honorary Fellow Award . Society for Public Health Education (SOPHE) . 25 October 2021.
45. Web site: Fries Prize for Improving Health Recipients . CDC Foundation . 25 October 2021.
46. Northridge . Mary E. . Holtzman . Deborah . Paper and Reviewer of the Year Award Winners . American Journal of Public Health . April 2013 . 103 . 4 . e5–e31 . 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301236 . 3673274 .
47. Braveman . Paula A. . Kumanyika . Shiriki . Fielding . Jonathan . LaVeist . Thomas . Borrell . Luisa N. . Manderscheid . Ron . Troutman . Adewale . Health Disparities and Health Equity: The Issue Is Justice . American Journal of Public Health . December 2011 . 101 . Suppl 1 . S149–S155 . 10.2105/AJPH.2010.300062 . 21551385 . 3222512 . 0090-0036.
48. Web site: Venice Family Clinic's 32nd Annual Silver Circle Gala . Getty Images for VFC . 25 October 2021.
49. Web site: Earl Warren Outstanding Public Service Award . American Society for Public Administration . 25 October 2021.
50. Web site: Williams » Alumni Awards » Kellogg Award » Jonathan Fielding, Class of 1964 . Williams College . 20 October 2021.
51. News: Williamstown: Williams' Bicentennial Medalists to discuss health care . 20 October 2021 . The Berkshire Eagle . September 16, 2015.
52. News: Chedekel . Lisa . Health Researchers Create Landmark National Academy of Medicine Report SPH . 25 October 2021 . Boston University School of Public Health . September 19, 2016.