Stephen Thomas | Director, Upstate Global Health Institute
New York Upstate Medical University

Dr. Stephen J. Thomas is an Infectious Diseases physician-scientist from the State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY and is a SUNY Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Microbiology & Immunology. Dr. Thomas currently directs the Upstate Global Health Institute and is the Frank E. Young, MD '56 and Leanne Young Endowed Chair of Microbiology & Immunology. He earned his Medical Degree from Albany Medical College and completed his Internal Medicine residency and Infectious Diseases fellowship at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Capital Consortium. Prior to joining Upstate, Dr. Thomas was a U.S. Army Medical Corps Officer serving at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) and completed his career as the institute's Deputy Commander for Operations. He specializes in the study of infectious diseases and the development of medical countermeasures. Dr. Thomas has participated and led development and characterization studies of vaccines, drugs, and biologics targeting dengue, Japanese encephalitis, Yellow fever, influenza, rabies, chikungunya, opioid use disorder, Zika, Ebola, and MERS-CoV. During the COVID-19 pandemic he was the global coordinating principal investigator for the Pfizer / BioNTech COVID vaccine efficacy trial. He played a key role and was a driving force in redeveloping the US Army dengue human infection model and has worked with the WRAIR and University of Maryland to conduct several trials. Dr. Thomas serves on numerous advisory boards and committees for the US government, international and non-governmental organizations, and industry. He is also a serial entrepreneur, co-founding several start-ups.