Lee W. Jones, Ph.D.

Lee Jones, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Population Sciences’ Division of Outcomes Research at City of Hope® Cancer Center Duarte. An internationally renowned physician-scholar in the field of exercise science, Dr. Jones leads the Exercise-Oncology (ExOnc) Program, a translational research initiative at City of Hope’s Beckman Research Institute that investigates the effects and mechanisms of structured exercise therapy on the development and treatment of cancer, with a particular emphasis on clinical outcomes for high-risk patients.

Dr. Jones’ work has played a pivotal role in establishing exercise oncology as both an intervention for mitigating the adverse physiological consequences of cancer therapy and a biological antitumor strategy. The goals of the ExOnc Program include incorporating precision exercise interventions into patients’ comprehensive cancer care plans to improve quality of life, reduce treatment toxicity and enhance survival.

In addition to being an author or co-author of more than 280 peer-reviewed publications, Dr. Jones has secured continuous funding and support for his work from institutions including the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the Department of Defense and several philanthropic foundations. He’s also helped shape national standards for exercise in oncology through leadership roles with the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. Prior to joining City of Hope in 2025, he was director of the Exercise Oncology Program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Some of his recent research projects have included studies into how exercise regulates the host-tissue/tumor microenvironmental-cancer cell axis to suppress cancer pathogenesis.

Dr. Jones earned his doctorate degree and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in exercise oncology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. His early work focused on behavioral interventions to promote physical activity among cancer survivors and included some of the first trials focusing on the benefits of exercise for cancer patients. During his tenure at Duke University Medical Center, he advanced into mechanistic and translational research, leading early clinical trials that demonstrated the safety, feasibility and efficacy of supervised exercise therapy in preserving or improving cardiorespiratory fitness during and after cytotoxic therapy. These studies revealed that cancer therapy causes long-term impairments in cardiovascular health, identified these impairments as predictors of increased mortality and established exercise as an effective strategy to prevent these effects.