Ron Thomas

Faculty Excellence and Student Success and Access

Before Ron Thomas became a physician, he studied chemistry and mortuary science and worked as a licensed embalmer and mortician. His route to medicine was not a straight line. It was built through curiosity, close observation, and a willingness to keep learning.

At the UNM School of Medicine, Anatomy Lab instructor A. J. Ladman helped those pieces come together. Ladman did more than teach structures and systems; he connected scientific knowledge to the practical skill Ron would need when a patient’s life depended on what he could see, understand, and do. Ron graduated in 1980 carrying that lesson with him.

He initially planned to specialize in internal medicine. Then an internship introduced him to the pace and range of emergency medicine, still an emerging field. Ron found a pathway that allowed certified specialists to make the transition and brought the depth of his internal medicine training into emergency care.

Now he is preparing the ground for physicians who will follow. Ron has designated a significant bequest for the School of Medicine’s Anatomy Lab and the Ann Gateley MD Internal Medicine Residents Fund. His gift will support the places, tools, and training where knowledge becomes judgment and students become clinicians.

A teacher once helped Ron connect what he knew to the work he was called to do. His planned gift extends that lesson into the future. Be the reason a medical student finds the mentor, training, and resources needed when the next life depends on them.