Ep. 006 _ Peter Lloyd Jones

Peter Lloyd Jones is a hybrid innovator, scientist and academic whose initial discoveries have uncovered fundamental mechanisms in stem cell biology, embryogenesis and human disease, including breast cancer and lung development. Jones’s work actively seeks and finds new solutions to complex problems via extreme collaborations within seemingly unrelated fields, including fashion, industrial, textile and architectural design. Following completion of his Ph.D. at Cambridge University in Genetics and Pathology, Jones conducted post-doctoral fellowships in 3-D Biology with Drs. Mina Bissell and Marlene Rabinovitch at UC Berkeley and The University of Toronto, respectively. Currently, he is the first Associate Dean of Emergent Design and Creative Technologies at The Sidney Kimmel Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University (TJU; Est1825), where in 2013, he founded MEDstudio@JEFF; a research and education space focused on discovering new and dignified solutions in health care using approaches rooted in human-centered design. In 2014, MEDstudio@JEFF partnered with DesignPhiladelphia and Friends of The Philadelphia Rail Park to explore how design could be deployed to benefit heath at an urban scale. Prior to this, Jones was a tenured Associate Professor of Pathology at The University of Pennsylvania, where he established a national center for the study of pulmonary hypertension, and co-founded the Sabin+Jones LabStudio with architectural researcher Jenny E. Sabin, now at Cornell. In addition to 100+ scientific pubs and numerous installations across the globe, Jones’ ideas on contemporary relationships between biology and design have been featured in the catalog accompanying the Gen(H)ome exhibition at the MAK Center in L.A., and in an issue of 306090 dedicated to models. Recently, Jones was elected into National Academy of Inventors. nominated for Scientist of the Year at The Philly Geek Awards, and in 2016 he made his one and onlyTV acting debut as a master-spy on the Emmy award-winning National Geographic science series, Brain Games. Also in 2016, he collaborated once more as curator and designer with Jenny Sabin Studio (which acts as lead design) of THE BEACON for Health and Wellness futures, a responsive ecosystem that probes the interactions that might exist between medicine and design at their outer limits. THE BEACON debuts for 10 days on Oct 06 during DesignPhiladelphia 2016 at Lubert Plaza/TJU in Philadelphia with a focus on reimagining urban health via the future Philadelphia RAIL PARK.