Thomas received his undergraduate degree from Furman University and his medical degree from the Medical University of the University of South Carolina. He completed a pediatric residency at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He completed fellowship training in pediatric hematology/oncology at The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Children’s Hospital in Boston. He joined the faculty at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in 1998.