Michael Thigpen

CAPT Michael Thigpen, M.D., is the Chief of Clinical Trials at MHRP. Dr. Thigpen received his Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 2001 from the London School of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, his Doctorate of Medicine in 1997 from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and his Bachelors of Science in 1991 from the University of Tennessee.

After completing subspecialty training in Internal Medicine (University of Colorado) and Infectious Diseases (Emory University), Dr. Thigpen joined CDC in 2003 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer. Upon completion of EIS, he joined CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (DHAP) where he worked on several international clinical trials in Malawi, Uganda, and Kenya evaluating the use of antiretrovirals for prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission during breastfeeding. In February 2008 he relocated from Atlanta to Botswana to serve as the Principal Investigator for the TDF2-Botswana HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Study. In September 2010 he moved to Cambodia to initiate a new program in conjunction with the Cambodian Ministry of Health evaluating the effectiveness of mass Japanese Encephalitis vaccination on rates of all-cause meningoencephalitis and Japanese Encephalitis. After completion of this project, he worked with the Division of AIDS at the U.S. National Institutes for Health on clinical trials for the cure and treatment of HIV from 2014-2016. From 2016-2018 he served as CDC’s HIV/STD Research Program Director in Bangkok, Thailand overseeing HIV prevention research including HPTN 083 and MTN 026. Most recently he completed 4 ½ years as CDC’s PEPFAR HIV Prevention, Care, and Treatment Advisor and CDC PMI Resident Advisor based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He is also a Captain in the US Public Health Service.