Jonathan Evan Fielding (born 1942) is a board-certified physician in both Pediatrics and Preventive Medicine, and the former director and health officer of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. At UCLA, he is a Distinguished Professor in the Fielding School of Public Health and a Professor in the David Geffen School of Medicine. He is the founder and co-director of the UCLA Center for Health Advancement in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Fielding was elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine (now the National Academy of Medicine) in 1995. He has served as President (1997-1999) of the American College of Preventive Medicine and as editor of the Annual Review of Public Health.
Early life and education In 1964, Fielding received a B.A. in French from Williams College. He attended Harvard University, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Harvard University, School of Medicine in 1969 and two years later graduated from Harvard School of Public Health. While attending medical school, he conducted residencies in pediatrics at the Boston Children's Hospital and Georgetown University Medical Center. In 1977, he received an MBA from Wharton School of Business.
Career
Fielding was the Principal Medical Services National Officer for Job Corps in the United States Department of Labor from 1971-1973 and a Special Assistant to the Director in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Fielding served as Director of the Health Services Administration within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1974 to 1975. Fielding served as Commissioner of Public Health in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 1975-1979. In 1979, Fielding became Professor of Public Health and Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he founded the Center for Health Enhancement Education and Research. From 1995-2008 Fielding also co-directed the Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities. Dr. Fielding became a Distinguished Professor of Public Health and Medicine at UCLA in 2011. In 1983, Dr. Fielding founded US Corporate Health Management Incorporated, providing consulting to corporations on health care policy. In 1986 Johnson & Johnson took over the company. It became Johnson & Johnson Health Management, with Fielding as Senior Vice President. Fielding left Johnson & Johnson in 1993. In 1996, Dr. Fielding became the Acting Health Officer and Senior Policy Advisor to the Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. In 1998, Fielding became Director and Health Officer of the Department of Health Services. On May 30, 2006, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the establishment of a separate Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. It was formally established on July 7, 2006, with Fielding appointed as its Director in August 23, 2006. He served for over 16 years as Director and County Health Officer, dealing with the health and safety of over 10 million people in Los Angeles, California. Fielding oversaw public health activities, including those for environmental health, disease control, health education, health assessment, and chronic diseases. During his tenure, Fielding led efforts to develop plans to deal with emergencies related to natural disasters, bioterrorism, pandemic flu, and other emerging threats to health and safety. He also called attention to the underlying determinants of health, including wide disparities in the physical and social environments in which people live. Fielding was responsible for implementing the Los Angeles County "A B C" restaurant letter-grading system which has been widely emulated throughout the U.S.A. Under the system, businesses undergo mandatory inspections, and the results are posted so that consumers have information they can use to inform their decisions about where to eat. The program is reported to have decreased restaurant food-related illness by as much as 20 percent. Other programs discourage tobacco use and encourage healthy nutrition, physical activity, and serving of appropriately-sized portions by restaurants. Fielding was a witness for the 2002 Little Hoover Commission Public Hearing, appearing on June 27, 2002. Also in 2002, Fielding and Tom Frieden of New York City helped to form the Big Cities Health Coalition (BCHC) which addresses concerns of particular interest to cities with large populations, high population density, and a somewhat dysfunctional "urban core". Fielding has also served as commissioner and vice-chair of the First 5 Los Angeles Commission, whose mission is to improve health and development of children 5 years of age and under, granting over $100 million annually. On March 27, 2014, Fielding announced that he would retire from the department and go back to UCLA "to help train future health leaders and do research on how we can be even more effective."
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