Alexis A. Thompson

Dr. Thompson has served as a member of GBT’s board of directors since March 2021. She has more than 20 years of experience as a world-renowned hematologist and sickle cell disease (SCD) expert. Since January 2022, Dr. Thompson has served as the Chief of the Division of Hematology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she also serves as the Elias Schwartz MD Endowed Chair in Hematology. Prior to that, she was an attending physician at the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, where she also served as the head of the Hematology Section and director of the Comprehensive Thalassemia Program and as the A. Watson and Sarah Armour Endowed Chair for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders. Dr. Thompson also served as the associate director for equity and minority health at the Robert H. Lurie Cancer Center and Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. She has served on national advisory committees for governmental agencies as well as non-profit organizations focused on improving healthcare access, increasing workforce diversity and reducing health disparities.

In 2018, Dr. Thompson served as president of the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and continues to serve on ASH’s Sickle Cell Disease Task Force. She has been a leader in multicenter collaborations, such as the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute’s Sickle Cell Disease Implementation Consortium, and has received numerous awards recognizing her expertise in teaching and clinical care. Dr. Thompson received her medical degree from Tulane University, earned her master’s in public health degree from University of California, Los Angeles, and completed her postgraduate training at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).