"Dr. Clement Jones knows sports medicine. He knows what it takes to get athletes back on the field!" said Fred Tedeschi, University of California, Berkeley, Head Athletic Trainer, announcing the school's new consulting orthopedic surgeon. A motivational speaker and role model for Bay Area youth, Dr. Jones has beaten the odds since childhood. Like many inner-city kids, he worked hard to overcome enormous obstacles, including severe dyslexia, to escape urban blight and successfully reach his goals.
In 1993, Dr. Jones joined The San Francisco Spine Center staff, a non-profit health organization of Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, to work under Dr. Kenneth I. Light, Medical Directory. The center performs approximately 160 operations a month, and is known for successfully taking on the most difficult surgeries-the "failed-back-surgery" cases from around the world.
Working along with Dr. Kenneth Light, Dr. Clement Jones created and now runs the first and only Web site for chronic back pain. Dr. Jones communicates through e-mail to patients suffering from back pain from as far away as Australia, China, and Italy. Besides e-mail, the site offers a checklist for self-diagnosis, patients' personal stories, back and neck statistics, scientific publications, employer/work comp information, outcome studies, and other back-related resource links. The web site is www.spinenet.com. Now entering its second year of operation, it has helped thousands of patients.
As a young man, Dr. Jones visited patients and observed emergency room procedures with his mentor, the family's physician, who later financed his education at private schools in New York. "He was my guardian angel," said Jones, "and a man who believed in me. I will be eternally grateful to him."
Dr. Jones received his bachelor's degree from Merrimack College, where he worked 32 hours a week in a psychiatric emergency ward, developing a gentle and compassionate perspective on the human dimensions of illness. Dr. Jones completed his medical training at Tufts University in Massachusetts, where he was voted class president both junior and senior year.
After graduating from medical school, and finishing a three-year active duty tour in the Navy, Dr. Jones received an orthopedic surgery residency and spine surgery fellowship from the prestigious Vanderbilt University Medical Center.
It was at Vanderbilt that Dr. Jones became fascinated with trauma and spinal surgery, and began to perform the miracles of healing. During this fellowship, he was elected to the distinguished national medical honor society, Alpha Omega Alpha. In his spare time, Dr. Jones travels to provide motivational talks with inner-city youth. "To the struggling youth of America," said Dr. Kenneth Light, "Dr. Jones is a perfect example of hope and inspiration." |
