Dan Jones for Medical Missionary

Overview

Join us as we welcome former Ole Miss chancellor Dan Jones in conversation with Beth Ann Fennelly for Medical Missionary, a compelling story of his work as a physician, missionary, humanitarian, medical school dean, and university chancellor.

About the book

In Medical Missionary: My Journey Through Global Health and Higher Education, Dan Jones explores his personal journey as a spiritual pilgrim and the many surprising twists along the way. Providing readers with a lens to share in remarkable events, Jones reflects on the choices he made during an unexpected and winding path from rural Mississippi in the 1950s and 1960s to Korea in the 1980s and beyond. His professional life spans work as a physician, missionary, humanitarian, medical school dean, and university chancellor, and includes high-profile, and sometimes controversial, leadership positions.

Jones tells a compelling story that is hopeful despite struggles with cancer and professional setbacks, and always returns to his faith. His writing is an inspiration, especially for anyone seeking real purpose or who is simply frustrated with their life's seeming lack of purpose. For readers who want to learn more about the world, Jones provides tangible examples of an American doing medical humanitarian work who sought and gained access to places few Americans have visited recently, including China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia.

His desire to ensure access to medical care for anyone anywhere led to surprising adventures full of excitement and risk and prepared him to face political pressure and intrigue upon his return to his home state. Direct and unsparing, Jones offers a personal account of the difficulties of having to choose between what is right and what is easy.

About the author

Dan Jones is a Mississippi native and worked as a physician, medical missionary and humanitarian, educator, researcher, and university leader. He served as chancellor of the University of Mississippi from 2009 to 2015 and president of the American Heart Association from 2007 to 2008.

About the conversation partner

Beth Ann Fennelly, was poet laureate of Mississippi from 2016-2021. She teaches in the MFA program at the University of Mississippi and lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with her husband and their three children. She is the author of seven books, of which The Irish Goodbye: Micro-Memoirs is the latest.