Director, Master of Health Administration Program, Associate Professor of Health Administration, University of Memphis

It’s a time-honored belief that the best way to teach is by example. And La Don Jones’ personal blend of commitment, leadership, and passion for his mission is something the graduate students in his Master of Health Administration program are likely to learn through a benevolent form of contagion.

He also employs traditional didactic methods and a variety of innovative approaches that are already attracting a fast-growing crop of candidates to the program and delighting strategic partners and future employers in the healthcare field, as well.

Still in its fledgling stage, the University of Memphis School of Public Health’s MHA program, lovingly nurtured and developed by Jones, has not only been creating a wealth of driven, dedicated, polished and professional students who are quickly snapped up by eager employers and granters of fellowships—it has also made the cut, appearing high on Modern Healthcare’s prestigious April list of top business graduate schools for physician executives, weighing in 5th on the roster of 33 schools competing for recognition. 

Jones’ early fascination with healthcare administration surfaced when he began his first job at age 18, serving as a nursing attendant at Baptist Hospital. “I couldn’t believe I was actually getting paid to help people!” he marveled. Leadership qualities surfaced early, too, when he was elected president of his class at the Baptist College of Health Sciences, where he was the first male graduate in 1984. After earning his bachelor’s degree in personnel management from U of M, he collected a master’s degree in health administration, and a doctorate and an assistant professorship from the University of Alabama at Birmingham before returning to Memphis to fill key roles at Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation, Baptist College of Health Sciences and UT’s Health Science Center before stepping into his current role at U of M.

The thrill and challenge of continually discovering new ways to improve patient care continue to fascinate him.

What prompted the decision to create the School of Public Health and the related master’s program?

Memphis and the Mid-South—and the south in general—need to improve on the health of our population.  Obesity, diabetes, hypertension, infant mortality are rampant, and there’s a significant workforce need for healthcare professionals, public health professionals, and health administration professionals, as well. Under the leadership of University President Shirley Raines, a number of us, including myself and our new dean, Dr. Lisa Klesges, were asked to help put this together.  Over the last year or so we’ve been working pretty much around the clock.

What aspects of the MHA program have led to its success? 

The program requires the students to have 300 hours logged in for an internship in a healthcare facility. And it doesn’t have to be a hospital, but it needs to be a place where they can understand the business of patient care through hands-on experience.

Also, we invite community leaders and working experts—we call them “pracademics”—who bring their practical experience and speak to our students about what’s really going on in a hospital or a doctor’s office in practice. We think that’s one of our competitive advantages. All programs don’t have that opportunity and structure. 

One of our strategic partnerships is our Day One program—a leadership development program that has been cited nationally as one of the best practices.  After three days of meeting challenges and undergoing assessments, bonding and developing self awareness, our student group starts regular classes, but also continues monthly activities and experiences that help them develop executive and professional skills, from social behavior and dining etiquette to the do’s and don’ts of dress, how to interview, how to write a succinct and effective memo, how to give a great presentation. These are things that hospital executives and healthcare leaders have told me are often missing in their new hires, and led me to develop the program.    

When they graduate, the goal here is for our students to be head and shoulders above—the Day One program helps them achieve that distinction.

Are other strategic partnerships within the community helpful to the program?

Methodist, Baptist, and the VA have all participated in our graduate assistantship program. They pay a selected student’s tuition and provide the opportunity for 20 hours of work alongside a healthcare executive, for which they also receive a stipend.

Assistantships enable the student to gain real-world working experience. Often, the students are hired by the partner hospital once they graduate.

Currently we have 12 or 13 assistantships, and we’re grateful for the excellent support we receive from those organizations, but we would love to be able to provide ALL our students with assistantships, and hope someday to be able to do so.

What special challenges have you faced?

We are the only accredited Master of Health Administration program in Tennessee. There are 400 programs in the country, and only 80 are accredited. That’s a stamp of approval that’s important to us. But maintaining that accreditation—constantly evolving and getting better, managing growth while maintaining quality—that’s what keeps me up at night.

Last month, 21 students graduated from the MHA program.  Our employment rate is very high—over 90 percent of our students find jobs. In this economy that really says something.  Although no career is recession-proof, healthcare is certainly recession-resistant. I think it also says something about the preparedness of our students.

Are you working on any new initiatives?

Because a big focus with healthcare reform is quality, I’ve been working with some of our community partners on ways to incorporate Six Sigma Green Belt Certification into our program, so all graduates will have Six Sigma certification. I don’t know that anybody in the country is doing that right now. That would add distinction to our program and help us reach that number one spot—and that’s our goal.

What accomplishments are you most proud of?

The latest ranking is really important to me –I think it says to the external world that our program is on the move. It’s one thing for us to say it; it’s another thing for an objective national healthcare magazine to say it.

I’m proud that we have four graduating students who were offered fellowships –two of them from Vanderbilt, a very prestigious school.

From an academic perspective, I’m proud to have been selected by the Tennessee Board of Regents as a Maxine Smith Fellow, and also to have been recognized by the American Council on Education for a fellowship opportunity.

What do you do for fun?

Singing is a passion for me. I love the standards—Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra. It’s a joy for me to sing at retirement homes as well as private performances at the Peabody and on Beale Street. The vocal chords are muscles, so every time I do a performance I get better and better.

(Jones performs regularly at Café Ecletic in midtown.)

His three sons are also following his example as a dedicated high-achiever. They’re turning heads in the MIT astrophysics program, as a Christian Brothers alumnus serving as second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, and as a senior at the University of Memphis, respectively.  Who knows what heights his new granddaughter might achieve when her turn comes?

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