Pamela L. Thornton, Ph.D.
Responsibilities & Activities
As program director of health equity and type 2 diabetes research, I provide scientific oversight and administration of a portfolio of grants and cooperative agreements related to the incidence, prevention, and treatment of type 2 diabetes. The portfolio includes behavioral research in patient and community-based populations, evaluation of natural experiments in healthcare or other large scale policies, dissemination and implementation science, and health disparities research. I also manage the NIDDK Centers for Diabetes Translation Research program, which promotes innovative research and interdisciplinary collaboration to enhance efficacious diabetes translation research.
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
Basic and clinical studies aimed at addressing the prevention, treatment, and pathophysiology of type 1 and type 2 diabetes.
Committees & Working Groups
- NIH Obesity Policy Research Network, Member
- NIH Subcommittee on Behavior and Environment, NIH Obesity Working Group, Member
- NIDDK Obesity Research Working Group, 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 LecturerHuman 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