Gov. Wes Moore has appointed Dr. Stephen B. Thomas, professor of health policy and management at UMD’s School of Public Health and director of the Maryland Center for Health Equity (M-CHE), to serve as a health expertise member of the Governor’s Wellmobile Program Advisory Board.
Known for building trusted, community-rooted models of health engagement, Thomas seeks to meet people where they are. He aims to support the design of health systems that work not only at the hospital or policy level, but also at the neighborhood level — in the places where trust is earned, relationships are sustained, and prevention becomes possible.
“My vision for the work is simple – connect statewide infrastructure to hyperlocal realities,” said Thomas.
My vision for the work is simple – connect statewide infrastructure to hyperlocal realities.
The Governor’s Wellmobile, operated by the University of Maryland School of Nursing, has provided continuous primary care services since 1994 and in 2025 alone served around 1,600 patients. The mobile clinic operates four days a week in Prince George’s County, focusing on people who are uninsured or underinsured and helping them manage chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol.
For Thomas, the appointment aligns closely with the principles that have shaped his work for decades. Through the HAIR Network, he has helped transform Black barbershops and beauty salons into trusted spaces for health education, screening, referral, and research engagement. Through the Thurgood Marshall Amenity Center in West Baltimore, he has advanced a model of place-based innovation that links community trust and service delivery.
“Dr. Thomas has shown throughout his career that the most effective health interventions are often the ones co-created with communities, not simply delivered to them. His leadership on the Wellmobile Advisory Board will help strengthen Maryland’s capacity to deliver care in ways that are local, trusted and responsive,” said Dr. Yolanda Ogbolu, dean of the University Maryland Baltimore School of Nursing.
The Wellmobile program, says Thomas, represents an important truth in public health – access begins with trust.
“The most effective pathway to better health is hyperlocal, neighborhood by neighborhood, block by block, relationship by relationship,” said Thomas. “When we bring health care into trusted community spaces and honor the lived experience of the people we serve, we do more than expand access, we build the kind of public health infrastructure that people will actually use, again and again.”
