Caroline Thompson
Full Member, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center; Research Fellow, Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Fellow, Carolina Population Center
caroline.thompson@unc.edu
Curriculum Vitae
Dr. Caroline A. Thompson’s research is focused on using population and data science methods to improve cancer outcomes and reduce cancer inequities.
Dr. Caroline A. Thompson is a cancer epidemiologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the Gillings School of Global Public Health. Her research program is focused on using population and data science methods to improve cancer outcomes and reduce cancer inequities. Her projects depends heavily on the use of large complex sources of healthcare data including national and statewide cancer registries, insurance claims, and electronic health records, which are often linked with contextual data sources such as the U.S. Census, American Community Survey, and GIS. She has received funding from the National Cancer Institute, National Center for Advancing Translational Science, Centers for Disease Control, AcademyHealth, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
Dr. Thompson is a native of Asheville, North Carolina and UNC alum. After earning her bachelor’s degree in biology (UNC ’99) she enjoyed a 10-year career in the Biotech/Pharmaceutical industry as an oncology-focused clinical data manager. Returning to graduate school at the University of California Los Angeles, she earned her MPH (UCLA ’10) and PhD (UCLA ’13) in Epidemiology with a focus on cancer, epidemiologic methods, and healthcare quality. She obtained postdoctoral training as an AcademyHealth Delivery Systems Science Fellow at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute where she was trained in methods for the appropriate research re-use of electronic health records.