Thomas Named UAMS Associate Dean for Diversity Affairs

By todd

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LITTLE ROCK – Billy Thomas, M.D., M.P.H., has been named associate dean of diversity affairs in the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).


 


Thomas will direct the new Center for Diversity Affairs at UAMS, formerly the Office of Minority Affairs. He will guide efforts to foster diversity within the population of student, faculty and employee groups at UAMS. His work includes creation of a Pre-Professional Academy to enhance recruitment of disadvantaged students to UAMS.


 


Thomas earned his medical degree at UAMS and completed his residency in pediatrics in 1983. He received his Master of Public Health degree in 2004 from Tulane University. Thomas joined the UAMS faculty in 1995 as an associate professor of pediatrics and physiology. He was named assistant dean of minority affairs in 1998.


 


“Dr. Thomas has been a leader in recruitment of minority students to UAMS,” said E. Albert Reece, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., dean of the UAMS College of Medicine. “His promotion underscores UAMS’ continued belief in the importance of diversity in the classroom and in the health-care industry.”


 


UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has about 2,170 students and 650 residents and is the state’s largest public employer with almost 9,000 employees. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in Arkansas of about $3.8 billion a year.


 


UAMS centers of excellence are the Arkansas Cancer Research Center, Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute, Donald W. Reynolds Center on Aging, Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy and Jackson T. Stephens Spine and Neurosciences Institute.