Dr. Thomas joined UPMC Health Plan in 2018 to build a newly formed Medicare STARs analytic team.  One year later, in addition to the analytics, she was asked to build the overall Medicare STARs program.  This new program resulted in UPMC Health Plan earning their first 5-STAR Rating for the 2022 STAR Rating Year and maintaining that 5-STAR for the 2023 STAR Rating Year.  In 2021, Dr. Thomas was asked to expand these best practices to enhance Quality across the business as Associate Vice President of Quality Improvement. 

Dr. Thomas is also responsible for leading the development of several innovative programs including the Medicare Faith & Wellness Program and partnering with Astrata (www.astrata.co) to advance the use of Natural Language Processing to enhance the development and impact of various interventions.

Prior to joining UPMC Health Plan, Dr. Thomas worked as a researcher in psychology and education.  Specializing in program design and evaluation, statistics, measurement science, survey design, social cognition, learning and instruction, and accountability programs.  During this time, she collaborated on several contracts and multi-million-dollar NSF grants with the City University of New York and the University of Pittsburgh. 

Dr. Thomas received her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with a specialization in Quantitative Methods in Education and Psychological Research from the Graduate Center, CUNY.  As well as her M.A. in Psychology from San Diego State University and her B.A. in Psychology from Biola University.