Thomas, Ronald

Biography

Dr. Ronald Thomas has 24 years of experience as the lead statistician for the Children’s Research Institute (CRI). The CRI was formerly known as the Children’s Research Center of Michigan (CRCM) within the Department of Pediatrics at Wayne State University School of Medicine (SOM), and currently at Central Michigan University (CMU).

Currently, Dr. Thomas handles the statistical analyses from a wide range of clinical trials; sits on funded DSMB committees; and currently serves on the Pediatric IRB at CMU. Dr. Thomas has had continual funding on governmental, state, and/or foundation grants since 1997. Of note, he was the primary site statistician, through two five-year NIH funding cycles, for The Pediatric Pharmacology Research Unit (PPRU) Network, which was an organization of university based pediatric clinical pharmacologists founded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) at the National Institutes of Health. The overall goal of the PPRU Network was the safe and effective use of drugs in children. The PPRU Network conducted studies on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs in children, provided a locus for pre- and post-marketing clinical trials in children conducted by pediatric clinical pharmacologists in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry and contract research organizations, and served as an advisory body to the pharmaceutical industry, regulatory agencies, health professionals and the public on the appropriate use of drugs in children.

As of October 2024, Dr. Thomas has over 210 peer-reviewed publications in both randomized and observational trials across basic and clinical science. He has been (2018, 2019) a keynote speaker at Pediatric conferences internationally in Rome and London. He has also previously served the Wayne State University SOM on the Executive Committee of the School of Medicine for 3 terms (2009-2017). The Executive Committee is responsible for Promotion and Tenure as well as annual faculty Selective Salary Reviews. In addition, he also served the University as a whole as an elected Member-at-Large on the Academic Senate and Research Committees (2011-2020).