AACN Board
July 2017-June 2020
Deborah Jones, PhD, MSN, RN, serves a three-year term on the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) board of directors from July 1, 2017, through June 30, 2020.
Associate dean for professional development and faculty affairs and holder of the Margaret A. Barnett/PARTNERS endowed professorship in Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and the School of Nursing, she has held several administrative and leadership roles in academia, healthcare facilities and professional organizations. An AACN member since 2002, Jones is a manuscript reviewer for the American Journal of Critical Care and an author/co-author of several articles relevant to acute and critical care. She has also presented at AACN's annual National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition and many other critical care organizations, including the Society of Critical Care Medicine and American Thoracic Society.
Jones is a member of the Southern Nursing Research Society and served on its board of directors for eight years. She also served on the National Nursing Oral Health Workgroup and is a member of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, American Nurses Association and Alzheimer's Association Houston and Southeast Chapter.
Her research contributes to improving outcomes for acutely and critically ill patients through evidence-based oral health practices and interprofessional oral health education. Jones recently expanded her research to explore the professional and personal impact of moral distress on interprofessional healthcare providers and on the prevention of hospital-acquired pneumonia in acutely ill patients.
Jones received the Virginia Commonwealth University Outstanding Nursing Alumnus Award in April 2017 and was selected as a fellow in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Leadership for Academic Nursing Program in 2015. She was also named one of "25 Outstanding Nurses of 2015" by the Texas Nurses Association District 9 Foundation.
She earned a PhD in biobehavioral clinical research and a Master of Science in Nursing, nursing administration, at Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, in 2007 and 2002, respectively. She received a Bachelor of Science in Nursing at Radford University, Radford, Virginia.