ASD Researchers at UNC

Associate Professor/UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy

Kathleen Thomas, Ph.D., is an associate professor at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy in the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy. She is the former Associate Director of the NRSA training program in health services research for pre- and post-doctoral fellows in the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

Dr. Thomas is a behavioral economist conducting research to enrich the knowledge-base for ways to improve access to care for underserved populations with mental health needs, ranging from minority populations to disability policy and childhood autism. She is deeply engaged in understanding how people live what motivates them to be transactional around the most important things in their lives – family, health, well-being. Her work focuses on decision-making around the use of health care to promote mental health and emotional well-being. It is grounded in mixed methods, using a variety of primary and secondary data sources including qualitative data, stated preferences, quantitative surveys of health and health behavior, claims and administrative records. Further, her work is guided by stakeholder input and seeks to expand the research and science of stakeholder engaged work.

Dr. Thomas has been successful in securing funding to support her research from PCORI, RWJF, HRSA, NIH, CMS, CDC, AHRQ and NCDHHS as well as T32 research training support from AHRQ and NIMH. She is recipient of the John Eisenberg Excellence in Mentorship Award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Steven M Banks Award for Mentorship from the American Public Health Association.