Scholarship and Biography
Cindy Parks Thomas, Ph.D, is Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the Brandeis University Heller Graduate School, with a research and evaluation focus on state and national health reform, pharmacy policy, insurance benefit design, and addiction medicine. Dr. Thomas' current work includes analyses of healthcare access, utilization, and spending of health services, evaluations of the impact of state coverage programs, Medicaid coverage and its intersection with Social Security, and access to emerging pharmaceuticals. In the area of behavioral health, her work includes the adoption and impact of new treatments, and the development of quality measures, for the treatment of substance use disorders. Dr. Thomas' work has been featured in JAMA, the New England Journal of Medicine, Health Affairs, and other high-impact journals.
Dr. Thomas teaches health care technology development and adoption at Brandeis in the undergraduate program Health: Science Society and Policy, the Tufts MD/MBA program, and the Heller School executive MBA program for physicians.
Dr. Thomas holds a Ph.D. in Health Policy from Brandeis University Heller Graduate School and a Master's Degree in Health Policy and Management from the Harvard School of Public Health. She is also a Physician Assistant, in the past specializing in internal medicine, trauma and emergency care in both Kaiser Health Plan and rural private practice settings.