Donald E. Thomas

Donald E. Thomas, Jr. was born in St. Marys, Ohio in 1961. He grew up in a hard working blue-collar family, wanting to become a doctor at a young age after witnessing first hand the struggles of illness in his family. Entering the U.S. Army allowed him to be the first person in his immediate family the opportunity to attend college. While in medical school at Baylor College of Medicine and during residency at Brooke Army Medical Center, he was sympathetic and drawn to the struggles of young people battling a mysterious disease called systemic lupus erythematosus. He witnessed their plight first hand and decided that was his calling. He entered the field of rheumatology and now dedicates his life to helping people afflicted with rheumatologic disorders, especially having a special interest in lupus. He has a busy clinical practice (www.arthritispainpg.com) and enjoys teaching patients, medical students, and other doctors about rheumatologic diseases and their treatments. He is active as an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD and is currently Chair of the Medical Scientific and Advisory Committee of the Lupus Foundation of America DC/MD/VA chapter. The Lupus Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Guide for Patients and Families represents his desire to provide patients and their families one source that provides complete guidance in dealing with their illness and triumphing over it. His teaching style has always been to try to make things easy to understand and practical to his students, and this work is the final result of his many years of doing so in the field of lupus. HE INVITES EVERYONE AND ANYONE TO FOLLOW HIM AT http://www.facebook.com/LupusEncyclop... WHERE HE WILL POST REGULAR FACTS/TIPS/INFORMATION ABOUT SLE AND ENCOURAGES ACTIVE COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS, ADVICE AMONG FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS IN ORDER TO LEARN MORE ABOUT LUPUS AND TO SUPPORT EACH OTHER.