Dean's Biography

Tina Thompson, Ph.D., wearing glasses, a white sweater, and an apricot-colored wrap as she smiles at the camera.Tina Thompson, Ph.D., serves as the interim dean of the College of Medicine at Central Michigan University, a Division I, doctoral-research institution of higher education located in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.  Thompson also acts as the faculty accreditation lead and, prior to her role as interim dean, she had served as the senior associate dean for academic affairs at the college since 2017. 

Thompson has more than 25 years of experience in academic medicine with an extensive focus on curriculum development, evaluation and revision.  She has chaired and served on numerous curriculum committees and subcommittees, including the College of Medicine’s comprehensive Objective Structured Clinical Exam task force and on multiple question-writing and review committees for the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) United States Medical Licensing Examination.

As an active member of the Association of American Medical College’s (AAMC) Medical Education Senior Leadership (MESL) group, Thompson works collaboratively with other leaders across the undergraduate and graduate medical education continuum to develop solutions for problems that impact learners across all disciplines.  She also serves as the field secretary for the AAMC’s Liaison Committee on Medical Education.  Through her work with MESL and the LCME, she has gained a broad understanding of the challenges that exist within medical education and how they will impact programs and accreditation activities in the future.

Before her tenure with CMU, Thompson held the senior associate dean of Academic Affairs role at Mercer University in Savannah, Georgia.  While at Mercer, she served on the leadership team that developed, implemented and managed the new four-year medical education campus in Savannah.  Thompson was responsible for the recruitment of all faculty and staff and worked with hospital administration partners to expand the class size while overseeing all LCME accreditation requirements.  She has direct, practical knowledge of a wide variety of medical school organizational models, including financial and governance structures that exist at LCME accredited institutions.

Academic and mentoring activities

Thompson is a seasoned educator, and her background reflects her commitment to teaching and mentoring the next generation of physicians.  At CMU, she is a professor and the director of course management for the Neuroscience and Behavioral Science course.  She also serves as the director of the Interprofessional Education Program (IPE) and as a facilitator for Critical Consciousness Training and other IPE learning modules.  Thompson holds multiple formal mentoring roles both nationally and at CMU.  She serves as a mentor for MESL and the Academy of Medical Educators, as well as a pre-clinical student advisor, a clinical student ERAS advisor, and a junior faculty mentor for the College of Medicine.

Thompson is also an active member of numerous nationally recognized medical and academic committees including:

  • Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC)
  • AAMC Group on Regional Medical Campuses
  • AAMC Group on Educational Affairs Annual Meeting Session Abstract Reviewer
  • AAMC Group on Women in Medicine and Science
  • AAMC Medical Education Senior Leaders
  • AAMC Council of Dreams
  • AAMC Central Group of Educational Affairs
  • International Association of Medical Science Educators
  • Accreditation Continuous Quality Improvement Professionals Group
  • LCME Accreditation Survey Team Member
  • LCME Faculty Fellow
  • NBME Step 1 Interdisciplinary Review Committee
  • NBME Forms Review and Remote Pool Review Group

Professional credentials

Thompson received her Bachelor of Arts in chemistry/biology from Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virigina and her Doctorate in neuroscience/neurochemistry from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

She completed her post-doctoral training in neuropharmacology at Brown University’s School of Medicine in Providence, Rhode Island and a fellowship in neuroendocrinology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.