Experimental Pathology Laboratories, Inc. (EPL®) established EPL Northeast on February 8, 2016. This office is headed by Dr. Heath Thomas who was formerly Vice President of Safety Assessment at GlaxoSmithKline. The Northeast office is located outside of Philadelphia at 125 Chinaberry Lane, Collegeville, PA. With this location, Dr. Thomas will be able to provide local support for many of our clients located in northeastern U.S. and Mid-Atlantic states with the support of our corporate facility located in Sterling, VA.

Dr. Thomas earned a Bachelor of Science in Zoology from North Carolina State University in 1984. He graduated with his DVM degree from North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine in 1988 prior to practicing for several years in small animal and emergency medical practice in Cary and Raleigh, North Carolina. He completed a residency in anatomic pathology at the University of California at Davis in 1993 and was board certified in veterinary pathology in 1994. He then completed a NIEHS postdoctoral fellowship in Environmental Toxicology along with a year as a lecturer in pathology. He received his PhD in Comparative Pathology from the University of California at Davis in 1998.

He spent a couple years as a Pathologist at SmithKline Beecham in Pennsylvania in Safety Assessment, where he acted as a study pathologist and peer review pathologist on acute to chronic studies in rodents and non-rodent species. Additionally, he was active in supporting discovery scientists with animal model development and as a project team member on a phase III cardiovascular drug. He then spent a couple years as a Principal Research Scientist in Safety Assessment at DuPont Pharmaceuticals in Delaware acting as a study pathologist and peer review pathologist and project team member on an oncology drug in pre-clinical development.

Dr. Thomas spent five years as the Director of Cellular Pathology at GlaxoSmithKline where he was active as a study pathologist, peer review pathologist and drug development scientist on a couple projects in oncology from phase I to filing along with several projects in the area of osteoporosis through phase II. He led and managed scientific strategy and outcomes for the cellular pathology group including investigative scientists and veterinary pathologists. This group provided mechanistic toxicology support for drug development issues, utilizing flow cytometry, confocal microscopy, electron microscopy, quantitative image analysis and biochemical analyses. Additionally he was active in pathology and scientific support of drug discovery programs in the areas of oncology, cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases.

He was then promoted to Head of Pathology at GlaxoSmithKline where for six years he lead and managed scientific strategy and outcomes of the pathology group including veterinary pathologists, as well as teams across the clinical pathology, histology, and investigative labs. He acted as study pathologist and peer review pathologist for both GLP and non-GLP toxicity studies to support clinical development of therapeutic candidates in rodents and non-rodents from acute to chronic duration. Dr. Thomas ensured safety focus throughout multiple due diligence exercises for wide ranging therapeutic agents at various stages of development from pre-clinical to phase III. He designed a research program to explore for biomarkers of drug induced vascular injury in rats and dogs and secured a multi-year several million-dollar grant for the program from the Head of R&D to perform the research. He also oversaw a multi-phase, repeat dose study with 28 toxicants in rats followed by laser capture microdissection of mesenteric vasculature, mRNA amplification, gene array analysis, and flow cytometric evaluation of circulating endothelial and endothelial progenitor cells and histopathology.

He was promoted to Vice President and Site Head of Safety Assessment where for seven years he oversaw budget, strategic direction and leadership of the toxicology, pathology and investigative groups. He carried GLP site head responsibilities and led toxicology study design, reviewed study reports, contributed as project team member developing a stem cell proliferative agent, and mentored numerous project team representatives on drug development. From 2012 through 2015, he also served as the Chairperson of the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of GlaxoSmithKline in Pennsylvania.

Dr. Thomas’ research interests include pulmonary hypertension, cell cycle and apoptosis, as well as many years studying the pathogenesis and potential biomarkers of drug induced vascular injury. He has over 25 published manuscripts and has given more than 10 invited presentations at national and international meetings. He has served on numerous committees within the American College of Veterinary Pathology (ACVP), and also served as an Associate Editor of the journal Veterinary Pathology from 2003 to 2008.

Contact
EPL Northeast
125 Chinaberry Lane.
Collegeville, PA 19426
Phone: 610-283-5708
hthomas@epl-inc.com

Categories: NewsTags: Anatomic Pathologyanimal model developmentcardiovascular diseaseComparative Pathologyconfocal microscopyDiplomate ACVPDIVIdrug developmentDrug Induced Vascular InjuryElectron MicroscopyEnvironmental ToxicologyEPLEPL Northeastflow cytometryHeath C. ThomashistologyhistopathologyoncologyPathology Supportpeer review pathologistpreclinical developmentpulmonary diseasesquantitative image analysissafety assessmentStudy PathologistToxicologic Pathologyveterinary pathology

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