Pamela L. Thornton, Ph.D.

- Senior Advisor for Workforce Diversity and Health Equity: Office of the Director
- Program Director, Centers for Diabetes Translation Research: Division of Diabetes, Endocrinology, & Metabolic Diseases
Responsibilities & Activities
I serve as the Senior Advisor for Workforce Diversity and Health Equity for the Office of the Director, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). In this role, I co-lead NIDDK’s inaugural Health Disparities and Health Equity Research Implementation planning process with the Deputy Director, Dr. Gregory Germino. I also co-chair the NIDDK Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Civility initiative with the Executive Officer, Ms. Camille Hoover, and Dr. Germino. My federal career has involved managing an NIH-funded workforce development consortium to enhance diversity, developing research and workforce initiatives, and collaborating with colleagues across the NIH on transformative activities to reduce disparities and improve health.
In addition, I serve as the program director of the NIDDK Centers for Diabetes Translation Research program whose novel service cores focus on translational research to integrate evidence-based interventions in real world settings and diverse populations across the country.
Research Programs
Clinical Research in Type 2 Diabetes
Progression and treatment of type 2 diabetes in children and adults.
Diabetes Centers
Enhancing and extending the effectiveness of diabetes research by encouraging collaboration among investigators from relevant disciplines.
Diabetes: Treatment, Prevention, & Complications
The Diabetes: Treatment, Prevention, and Complications Program supports both basic and clinical studies aimed at addressing the prevention, treatment and pathophysiology of type 1 and type 2 diabetes across the lifespan.
Committees & Working Groups
- NIDDK Health Disparities/Health Equity Research Working Group of Council, Co-Lead
- NIDDK Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Civility Initiative, Executive Committee Member
- NIDDK Obesity Research Working Group, Member
- NIDDK DEM Clinical Research in Type 2 Diabetes, Member
- NIDDK DEM Patient and Stakeholder Engagement Working Group, Member
- NIH Social Determinants of Health Committee Research Coordinating Committee, Executive Committee Member
- NIH Racial Ethnic Equity Plans, Guidance Committee Member
Select Experience
Program Director, National Institute of General Medical Sciences; National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, 2013-2016
Principal, Healthcare and Public Health, U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Veterans Affairs Portfolios, The MITRE Corporation, McLean VA, 2007-2013
Senior Research Associate, Joint Center Health Policy Institute, Washington, DC, 2006-2007
Postdoctoral Fellow, W.K. Kellogg Foundation Health Disparities Scholars Program, The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, MI, 2003-2005
Adjunct Faculty and Lecturer Human Behavior; Evaluation Research Methods, University of Maryland, Baltimore MD, 2006-2012
Ph.D., University of Maryland Baltimore School of Social Work, 2003
M.S.W., Catholic University of America School of Social Services, 1998
B.S., Howard University, 1993