Trained in computational biology (specifically computational protein folding using statistical-mechanics based techniques with Dr. Ken Dill), Dr. Thomas turned to genomics as soon as the Human Genome Project began pilot work in 1995. The culmination of this early work was the publication of the paper describing the sequencing of the first human genome in 2001; Dr. Thomas led the work described in the 10-page section of the paper entitled "An overview of the predicted protein coding genes in the human genome." Since that time, Dr. Thomas's group has continued to innovate in the area of computational analysis of genomic data, with an emphasis on gene function and evolution. Recent advances in the work on defining human gene functions and their evolution were published in Nature. In addition to founding and continuing development on the PANTHER phylogenomics project, Dr. Thomas is a director of the Gene Ontology Consortium, one of the largest and best-known bioinformatics projects in the world.
Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California.
Professor, Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, Dornsife School of Letters and Sciences, University of Southern California.
Director, Gene Ontology Consortium.
Advisory roles:
Board on Life Sciences, National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (USA)
Scientific Advisory Board, Bgee resource for gene expression in animals
Scientific Advisory Board, GlyGen resource for glycobiology
Thomson-Reuters Highly Cited Scientists, 2024 (top 1% in field of Biology & Biochemistry)
Thomson-Reuters Highly Cited Scientists, 2023 (top 1% in field of Biology & Biochemistry)