Alumni Hall of Fame
Academic and Professional Achievement (2019)

Dr. Donald E. Thomas, Jr. is a member of the St. Marys Memorial High School class of 1979. After high school he received an Associate Degree in Science from Georgia Military College followed by his Baccalaureate in Biology from the University of Houston, in 1985. Don received his Medical Doctorate from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, in 1989. In 1993, he completed his Residency in Internal Medicine at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and in 1995, Dr. Thomas completed his Fellowship in Rheumatology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

While receiving a world-class education, Donald Thomas served his country in the United States Army from 1979 until 1998, when he left with honorable discharge with the rank of Major.

Dr. Thomas is uniformly recognized as an impressively bright, talented, dedicated, and caring individual, and as a consummate medical professional in the treatment of Lupus. Dr. Donald E. Thomas is one of the world's foremost experts in Lupus. Since 1998, Dr. Thomas has been Board Certified in Rheumatology. He was among the first group of rheumatologists certified by the American College of Rheumatology in the use of ultrasound for the diagnosis and the treatment of rheumatic diseases. In 2014, The John Hopkins University Press published Dr. Thomas' work. "The Lupus Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Guide for Patients and Families."

At the time of his induction, Donald E. Thomas, Jr., M.D. teaches at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, where he serves as an Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Dr. Thomas is a Fellow Member of the American Board of College of Physicians and the American College of Rheumatology. He is certified in Clinical Densitometry by the International Society for Clinical Densitometry. Dr. Thomas is Chair Emeritus of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board of the Lupus Foundation District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia Chapter. He serves as a member of the National Board of Directors of the Sjogren's Syndrome Foundation.

In recognition of his outstanding work, Mr. Thomas has been awarded The American Medical Association's Physician Recognition Award since 2000 and has received additional commendation for this award since 2007. Since 2004, he has been rated one of America's Top Physicians by the Consumer Research Council of America in the specialty of Rheumatology. From 2008 - 2012 he received the "Patient's Choice Award," and in 2011, Dr. Thomas was recognized as the "Most Compassionate Doctor" by the American Registry. In 2010, 2012, and 2015, Washington Magazine recognized Dr. Thomas as one of Washington, D.C.'s "Top Doctors" for Rheumatology.



For excellence in his profession and leading expertise in his field, the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation inducts Dr. Donald E. Thomas, Jr. into the St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Foundation Hall of Fame for Academic and Professional Achievement.

The above text, in its entirety, is embossed on a St. Marys Memorial High School Alumni Hall of Fame plaque permanently on display in Memorial High School.