Steven Jonas, MD, MPH, MS, FNYAS

Education; Academic Positions, Memberships

 He holds a B.A. from Columbia College (1958), an M.D. from the Harvard Medical School (1962), an M.P.H. from the Yale School of Medicine (1967), and an M.S. in Health Management from the Wagner School of New York University (1997).  He also studied at the University College of London and the London School of Economics (1963-65), and the Touro College Law Center (Long Island, NY, 1985-86).  He interned at the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City (1962-63) and took his residency in Preventive Medicine/Public Health in the New York City Department of Health 1965-67.  He is Board Certified in Preventive Medicine.  During 1967-71, he worked for the City of New York in several capacities in the Health, and then Health and Hospitals, Departments.  From April, 1971 until Jan. 3, 2014, Dr. Jonas was: Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and then Professor (from 1983), of Preventive Medicine at Stony Brook Medicine, and also, from 2004 until retirement, Professor in the Program in Public Health, at Stony Brook.  He is presently Professor Emeritus of the Renaissance School of Medicine at Stony Brook University, New York

He is a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine, the American Public Health Association, the New York Academy of Medicine, the New York Academy of Sciences, and the Royal Society of Medicine (UK).  He is a Past President of the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine (1977-78), a past member of the New York State Board for Medicine (1977-87), and a past Associate Editor of Preventive Medicine (1983-2005). 

Selected Awards

In 1982, he was awarded the Founders’ Medal by the Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine, University of North Texas (Ft. Worth, TX).  In 2006 he received the Duncan Clark Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research.  In 2008 he received the Faculty Recognition Award of the Graduate Program in Public Health, Stony Brook University.  In 2010 he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Yale School of Public Health.  In 2015 he received a Certificate of Appreciation from the American Medical Athletics Association Journal, for service as Editor-in-Chief, 2003-2015.  In 2019 he received the “Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award” from The Marquis Who’s Who Publications Board, and appears in The Marquis Who’s Who in the World for 2021-2022.

Family

Dr. Jonas has two children of his own, Jacob, a teacher/basketball coach, and Lillian, an elementary school teacher, ages 51 and 49 respectively.  His second son, Mark Newman, 50, a website-designer/consultant (for stevenjonaspoltics.com, among others), is the child of his dear wife, Chezna Newman of New York City, who sadly passed away in October, 2018.  He has been in a permanent relationship with Lee Gruzen, of New York City and Amagansett, N.Y., since 2019.  2018 marked his 36th (and last) season in multi‑sport racing; he had done a total 256 triathlons (including 3 at the Ironman distance) and duathlons.  Due to a variety of factors (including the pandemic), he is now retired from multi-sport racing, but still works out regularly.

Major Publications 

         Dr. Jonas has authored 17 books of his own: Quality Control of Ambulatory Care (New York: Springer Publishing Co., 1977); Medical Mystery: The Training of Doctors in the United States (New York: W.W. Norton, 1978); Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals (New York: W.W. Norton, 1986, "Updated and Expanded" edition, 1999; 20th anniversary 2nd edition, July, 2006); An Introduction to the U.S. Health Care System (Springer Publishing, 3rd ed., 1992; 4th ed., 1998; 5th ed., 2003); The New Americanism (East Setauket, NY: Thomas Jefferson Press/Library Research Associates, 1992); Regular Exercise: A Handbook for Clinical Practice and its companion for patients/clients, A Guidebook for the Regular Exerciser (Springer Publishing, 1995); The Essential Triathlete (New York: Lyons and Burford/Globe‑Pequot, 1996); Talking About Health and Wellness With Patients: Integrating Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Into Your Practice (Springer Publishing, 2000); 101 Ideas and Insights for Triathletes and Duathletes (Monterey, CA: Coaches Choice, 2011); and Duathlon Training and Racing for Ordinary Mortals®: Getting Started and Staying with It (Guilford, CT: FalconGuides/Globe Pequot Press, 2012); The 15% Solution: How the Republican Religious Right Took Control of the U.S., 1981-2022 – A Futuristic Novel (Brewster, NY: Trepper & Katz Impact Books: Punto Press, 2013; the original version of this book, The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2022, was published under the pseudonym Jonathan Westminster by the Thomas Jefferson Press, Port Jefferson, NY, in 1996); and Ending the ‘Drug War’; Solving the Drug Problem: The Public Health Approach, (Brewster, NY: Punto Press, 2016); Trump's Presidential Years: As They Happened, 2015-2021, 219 published e-magazine columns, in six volumes, Kindle edition: Politics & Social Sciences Kindle eBooks@Amazon.com (2022).

Dr. Jonas collaborated on the following 19 books.  He is Founding Editor of Jonas and Kovner's Health Care Delivery in the United States, was Editor and co‑author of its first three editions (Springer Publishing Co., 1977, 1981 [received a 1982 Book of the Year Award, American Journal of Nursing], 1986), and was Co‑Editor of the 6th and 7th editions, (1999, 2002); the 13th ed. is published in 2024.  He was an Associate Editor of and a contributor to Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Clinical Practice (Baltimore, MD: Williams and Wilkins, 1996; 2nd ed., Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott, Williams, and Wilkins, 2008).  He was first author of PaceWalking: The Balanced Way to Aerobic Health (with Peter Radetsky, New York: Crown Publishers, 1988); The "I Don't Eat (but I can't lose)" Weight Loss Program (with Virginia Aronson, New York: Rawson/Macmillan, 1989); and Take Control of Your Weight (w/ Editors of Consumer Reports Books, Yonkers, NY: CRB, 1993).  He was co‑author to: Linda Konner for Just the Weigh You Are (Boston, MA: Chapters/-Houghton‑Mifflin, 1997; trade paper­back, Houghton‑Mifflin, 1998; reissued as Just as You Are: How to be Healthy Whatever Your Weight by Barnes & Noble Books, 2000); Maria Kassberg for Help Your Man Get Healthy (New York: Avon Books, 1999; reissued by Barnes & Noble Books, 2001); and Sandra Gordon for 30 Secrets of the World's Healthiest Cuisines (New York: John Wiley, 2000; re-issued by Barnes & Noble Books, 2005).  He was a co‑author for the American College of Sports Medicine Fitness Book, 3rd ed. (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2003).  He was co-author with Drs. Ray and Karen Goldsteen for the 6th ed. of Jonas’ Introduction to the U.S. Health Care System (Springer Publishing, 2007, 9th ed., 2021, 10th ed. In preparation). He was co-author to George Dallam, Ph.D., for Championship Triathlon Training (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2008; Italian translation, Triathlon Da Campioni, Milano, IT: Edizioni della Libreria della Sport, 2009); and Coaching and Teaching Triathlon Successfully, Monterey, CA: Coaches Choice, 2015.  With Edward M. Phillips, MD, he was co-author of ACSM’s Exercise is Medicine tm: A Clinician’s Guide to Exercise Prescription (Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2009; Chinese translation, 2016), the official textbook for the American College of Sports Medicine's national program, “Exercise is Medicine®.”

He was Founding Editor of the Springer (Publishing Co.)  Series on Medical Education (1980 –2005).  He was Editor‑in‑Chief of the American Medical Athletic Association Journal (2002-2015), a member of the Editorial Board of ACSM's Health & Fitness (1999-2011), and an Associate Editor of Preventive Medicine (1983-2005).  With USA-Triathlon, he was a member of the National Coaching Commission (2000-02).  Further, from 1989 on these topics he was a regular columnist (2006-2012) under the heading "Ordinary Mortals(R): Talking Triathlon with Steve Jonas," for USA-Triathlon Life.  He was a regular contributor to the USA-Triathlon Blog, under the heading “Talking Triathlon/Duathlon for Ordinary Mortals®, by Steve Jonas,” 2013-2021, (when publication was ceased).  His own sports/athletics/wellness website is www.ordinarymortals.net.    

         On health policy, preventive medicine and public health, and drug abuse policy, Dr. Jonas published over 135 professional articles, book chapters, and book reviews, and delivered well over 100 papers at conferences and seminars.  He was a designated speaker on behalf of the National Health Care Campaign for the Clinton Health Plan in 1994.  In addition, he has published numerous articles in the lay press, primarily on exercise and sports, and for both lay and professional audiences has given many talks on various aspects of health, fitness, and wellness.

Other Major Activities

From September 1992 until December, 1996 Dr. Jonas hosted a once‑a‑week live radio call-in show, "Talking Politics with Dr. Steve Jonas," on WUSB, 90.1 FM, at Stony Brook.  From 2004 through 2016, when the site ceased publication, Dr. Jonas was a Contributing Author, then Managing Editor, 2008-2013, then Editorial Director, 2013-16, for the webmagazine The Political Junkies for Progressive Democracy (http://thepoliticaljunkies.org/).  He was a regular contributor to Buzzflash.org from 2006 to 2015 and again to Buzzflash.com, 2020-2023 (when publication ceased).  He was a contributor to The Greanville Post from 2010 through 2016.  He is a “Trusted Author” for OpEdNews.com, and has posted columns  (most weeks) on that site since 2016.  From 2017, he was a contributor to the “Writing for Godot” section of Reader Supported News (until that section ceased publication in 2022); and is a contributor to From The G-Man. He has had a Twitter account, https://twitter.com/tpjmagazine, since 2014. This, his personal political website, is found at www.stevenjonaspolitics.com.

Dr. Jonas regards his “Career Highlights” as the following:

1.     Health Care Delivery in the United States (New York: Springer Publishing Co., 1st ed., 1977) of which he was the creator and first editor.  It was the first comprehensive, multi-author textbook on the US health care delivery system ever published. 

2.     Medical Mystery: The Training of Doctors in the United States (New York: WW Norton, 1978) was the first book on medical education that proposed organizing its content around the observed health and health care needs and priorities of the people, using student-centered problem-based learning as the primary pedagogical method for delivering that content.

3.     “The Springer Series on Medical Education” (New York: Springer Publishing Co.), which he founded in 1980, featured monographs on new developments in medical education.  He was the Editor until 2000, and continued as Founding Editor until the series was discontinued by the publisher in 2005.  It was known as the only series of its type.

4.     Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals (New York: WW Norton, 1986; Updated and Expanded edition, 1999, 20th anniversary 2nd ed., 2006) was the first book on the sport written expressly for novices and purely recreational triathletes. 

5.     Regular Exercise: A Handbook for Clinical Practice (New York: Springer Publishing Co., 1995) was the first book designed to educate clinical practitioners on how to effectively provide the exercise prescription to their patients in practice.  That book was followed by the second of its type, ACSM’s Exercise is Medicine tm: A Clinician’s Guide to Exercise Prescription (Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2009, co-authored with Dr. Edward Phillips).  It was the original handbook for the American College of Sports Medicine's national program, “Exercise is Medicine®.”

6.     In my book The “I-Don't-Eat-but-I­-Can't-Lose” Weight-Loss Program (co-written with Virginia Aronson, New York: Rawson/Macmillan, 1989), I presented my “diet-induced/low-calorie-overweight hypothesis" to partially illuminate the natural history of overweight.  At the time I developed it, it was an original contribution to the field of weight management.

7.     In my book Take Control of Your Weight (co-written with the Editors of Consumers Reports Books, Yonkers, NY: CRB, 1993) I presented the "Four Pathways" general hypothesis to partially illuminate the natural history of weight-gain/weight-loss.  It was also an original contribution to the field of weight management.

8.     The first textbook on health-promotion/disease-prevention organized around risk factors rather than diseases, Health Promotion and Disease Prevention in Clinical Practice, was published by Williams and Wilkins, (Baltimore, MD: 1996).  I was the originator of the concept and organization of the book, and with Steven Woolf, MD as its Editor, I was Associate Editor. 

9.     I was one of the early creators of the "health care by contract" concept (I termed it the "Personal Health Care System"); first paper: "The Personal Health Care System," New York State Journal of Medicine, 84, 187, 1984.  To my knowledge entirely by coincidence, the concept became the basis for the Clinton Health Plan of 1994.

10.  I was one of the early developers the “Co-Factor Hypothesis of the Natural History of HIV infection/AIDS.” First paper: "AIDS: An Alternative Scenario," AIDS Forum, Vol. 2, No.2, p. 32, 1989, and then: “Towards a Unified Field Theory of the Pathogenesis of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.” Preventive Medicine, 24, 423-424, 1995.

11. To my knowledge, I was the first developer of the "Comprehensive Public Health Approach to the Drug Problem.”  First paper: "Solving the Drug Prob­lem: A Public Health Approach to the Reduction of the Use and Abuse of Both Legal and Illegal Recreational Drugs," Hofstra Law Review, Vol. 18, No. 3, Spring, 1990, p. 751.  My most recent treatment of the concept in the public health literature was: "The Public Health Approach to the Prevention of Substance Abuse," chapter 79 in Lowinson, J., et al, Eds., Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook, 4th ed., Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2005.  What I now call the “Public Health Approach to the Drug Problem” is in my book, Ending the Drug War; Solving the Drug Problem, Brewster, NY: Punto Press, 2016.

12. I was one of the early developers of the "Health at Any Size" approach to dealing with the problem of obesity and health.  To my knowledge, Just the Weigh You Are, which I co-authored with Linda Konner (Boston, MA: Chapters/Houghton-Mifflin, 1997, Houghton-Mifflin, 1998; republished under the title Just As You Are, Barnes and Noble Books, Dec. 2000).  It was the first book-length treatment of the subject.

13. The textbook An Introduction to the U.S. Health Care System is a single-author text designed for use primarily by undergraduates.  It was one of the first of its type.  For the 3rd ed. of this text in 1992 (New York: Springer Publishing Co.), I was privileged to be invited to succeed the late, great Milton I. Roemer, MD, MPH as the author.  The 5th ed. was published in 2003.  The 6th ed. (principal authors, Drs. Ray and Karen Goldsteen of the Graduate Program in Public Health, Stony Brook University, myself as Associate Editor) was published in May, 2007.  From the 7th edition onwards, authored by the Drs. Goldsteen, the book, the 8th edition of which is published in 2020, is known as Jonas’ An Introduction to the U.S. Health Care System.

14. Duathlon Training and Racing for Ordinary Mortals®: Getting Started and Staying With It.  This book, with a chapter from USA-Triathlon, was the first then-modern book devoted solely to the duathlon (run-bike-run) variant of triathlon.  It was published by FalconGuides/Globe Pequot Press in March, 2012.

15. Under the pseudonym "Jonathan Westminster," in 1996 I self-published The 15% Solution: A Political History of American Fascism, 2001-2002.  It was re-issued under my own name in 2013 by Trepper & Katz Impact books, an division of Punto Press, as a “third version,” under the title The 15% Solution: How the Republican Religious Right Took Control of the U.S., 1981-2022: A Futuristic Novel (http://www.puntopress.com/jonas-the-15-solution-hits-main-distribution/ http://www.amazon.com/15%25-Solution-Steve- Jonas/dp/0984026347/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369071141&sr=1-1&keywords=The+15%25+Solution).  To my knowledge, the 1996 edition was the first to warn of the developing onslaught of Evangelical Republican Right© in the United States under the leadership of President Trump and the Trumpublicans© in Congress and on the Supreme Court.

16.  A collection of 219 columns on Donald J. Trump, published on several on-line political magazines, is entitled Trump's Presidential Years: As They Happened, 2015-2021. It was published, in six volumes, on Kindle: Politics & Social Sciences, eBooks@Amazon.com (2022).