Stephen B. Thomas

Stephen B. Thomas, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management and director of the Maryland Center for Health Equity in the School of Public Health. He is one of the nation's leading scholars in the effort to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities and has applied his expertise to address a variety of conditions from which Black communities and other communities of color generally face far poorer outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and HIV/AIDS.

He is the founding director of the University of Maryland Center for Health Equity (M-CHE) through which he created the Health Advocates in Reach and Research (HAIR) program, a network of barbers and stylists who engage in community health promotion. The HAIR program has focused on colon cancer awareness and prevention efforts, and has also engaged in education about the virus that causes COVID-19 and getting people comfortable with taking the COVID-19 vaccine.

He is available to speak about racial and ethnic health disparities research and outcomes and community-engaged interventions and programs designed to prevent disease and promote health and well-being in diverse communities.