Howard W. Jones, Jr., was born December 30, 1910 in Baltimore, Maryland. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree (cum laude) from Amherst College in 1931 and his M.D. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1935. He was a member of the staff of the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics at Johns Hopkins until his mandatory retirement at age 65.

Besides responsibilities for patient care and medical education, Dr. Jones is and always has been a prolific author and editor. He held key positions in the development of ethical standards for reproductive technologies in the United States. He is a past Chairman of the Ethics Committee on Reproductive Technology for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine. Dr. Jones and his late wife, Dr. Georgeanna Jones, were the only American gynecologists invited by the Vatican to participate on a panel to advise Pope John Paul II concerning assisted reproduction.

Dr. Jones’ early training and experience were in gynecological cancer. He was then involved in describing the precursors to the common type of cancer of the cervix which enabled early detection with the Pap smear and other technologies which substantially reduced the death rate from that disease. One of his patients was Henrietta Lacks whose cancer cells, known as “HeLa Cells,” proved to be immortal, and they continue to be of immense importance in basic and applied science.

While at Johns Hopkins, he became involved in reconstructive surgery of the internal and external genitalia of individuals affected by disorders of sexual development. He was instrumental in performing sex reassignment surgery for transsexual patients.