The Virginia Tech Alumni Association honored Dr. Evaleen Jones with its 2006 Distinguished Achievement Award during the university’s commencement celebration on May 12.

The Virginia Tech Alumni Association Distinguished Achievement Award is presented annually to recognize distinguished achievement, personal and/or professional, in any field of endeavor of enduring significance and value to society.

“Dr. Jones received this award for her many achievements and work with underserved populations,” said Thomas C. Tillar Jr., vice president of alumni relations. “Virginia Tech is proud to honor such an outstanding alumni who has contributed so much to improving the lives of those less fortunate.”

Jones, a family practitioner and assistant professor at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, has been recognized nationally for her work with underserved populations. Throughout her career, Jones has emerged as a leading and highly respected educator on international health issues, volunteering significant time and leadership to the International Health Medical Education Consortium, partnering with premier faculty and educators dedicated to promoting international health education.

As a medical student, Jones worked in international healthcare where she traveled to Ecuador to work. Jones helped establish a self-contained Mobile Surgical Facility that travels the Andean mountains to provide free surgery and health care to children and families of Ecuador. Her work also helped initiate a “recovery program” that sends unused, recycled prescription medications overseas, saving many lives.

Five years after her first trip to Ecuador, Jones founded Child Family Health International (CFHI), an organization that seeks to promote better global health conditions. Child Family Health International now works with 163 global partners and sends 600 medical students abroad each year while supporting the partnerships with more than $1 million in donations of medical supplies and grants for health projects.

Jones, whose commitment to underserved populations stems from her upbringing in rural New Jersey, graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelor's degree and then continued her education at Stanford University’s School of Medicine and at the University of California in San Francisco. Her dedication to improve the lives and well being of others exemplifies the university’s motto of Ut Prosim (That I May Serve).

Founded in 1872 as a land-grant college, Virginia Tech is the most comprehensive university in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is among the top research universities in the nation. Today, Virginia Tech’s eight colleges are dedicated to quality, innovation, and results through teaching, research, and outreach activities. At its 2,600-acre main campus located in Blacksburg and other campus centers in Northern Virginia, Southwest Virginia, Hampton Roads, Richmond, and Roanoke, Virginia Tech enrolls more than 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries in 180 academic degree programs.

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