Upstate Medical University

Stephen Thomas

Director, Upstate Global Health Institute

Stephen Thomas is a virologist and vaccinologist who currently serves as a Professor of Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology and an Infectious Diseases physician-scientist at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY. He is the Chief of Micro and Immunology and the Director of the Upstate Global Health Institute. As Director of the Institute of Global Health and Translational Science, he provides leadership to multiple initiatives in the US and abroad.

Dr. Thomas earned his Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Biomedical Ethics from Brown University, his Medical Degree from the Albany Medical College, and completed his internship and residency in Internal Medicine/Infectious Diseases at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Dr. Thomas is board certified in both Infectious Disease and Internal Medicine, holds a certification in Tropical Medicine and Traveler's Health from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, and is a Fellow in the American College of Physicians, Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Dr. Thomas has spent more than 5 years of his early career living and working in Thailand and Southeast Asia. He played a key leadership role during the West Africa Ebola outbreak, advising senior Department of Defense leadership and leading his team in planning and executing of Ebola vaccine trials. He was instrumental in developing and implementing his institution's first in-human MERS-CoV vaccine trial and Zika vaccine. Prior to joining SUNY Upstate, Dr. Thomas spent twenty years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, serving at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, finishing his time there as the Chief Operating Officer of the Institute.

As Chief of Infectious Disease at SUNY, Dr. Thomas leads the Infectious Diseases Division and is responsible for providing in- and out-patient consultation for more than 10% of New York State's population. As Director of the Institute of Global Health and Translational Science, he leads multiple initiatives encompassing education, research, and clinical service opportunities. His current research activities include work on dengue human infection models, development of vaccines against opioid use disorders, field-based studies exploring transmission and pathogenesis of arboviral diseases in Asia and Latin America, and both early and advanced phase testing of a number of vaccines and therapeutics against tropical diseases.