Dr. Ed Thompson is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, and Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine’s Division of Infectious Disease.

Prior to coming to UMC, Dr. Thompson spent 3 years at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in Atlanta (CDC) as its Chief of Public Health Practice and as Deputy Director for Public Health Services. While at UMC, he also served for one year as Special Advisor for Health Promotion to the Director of the CDC.

Dr. Thompson served for 91/2 years as Mississippi’s State Health Officer, and for 10 years as Mississippi’s State Epidemiologist.

He served a four year term on the CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practice (ACIP). He also served on the Advisory Council to the Director of the CDC, and was a member of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Secretary’s Advisory Council on Public Health Preparedness.

Dr. Thompson is past president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, past president of the national Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologist, and past president of the Mississippi Public Health Association.