Bio
Christopher Thomas is the Vice President, Chief Quality Officer for FMOL Health and
Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine at LSU Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) in
Baton Rouge. Dr. Thomas graduated magna cum laude from John Carroll University with
a Bachelor of Science and a concentration in Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry.
He subsequently attended the Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public
Health. He completed his Internal Medicine residency and fellowship in Pulmonary and
Critical Care Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is the former director
of critical care for Anesthesia Medical Group in Nashville, TN where he was responsible
for implementation of evidence-based quality initiatives in an 80-bed quaternary referral
ICU prior to taking the role of Chief of Quality, Patient Safety, and Performance
Improvement at Our Lady of the Lake Health. He is active in national multicenter quality
improvement initiatives involving the improvement of mobility in hospitalized patients
as well as research initiatives as a member of Pragmatic Critical Care Trials Group.
Dr. Thomas’ clinical activities include supervision of Pulmonary and Critical Care
services at Our Lady of the Lake (OLOL) Regional Medical Center.
His career interests are focused on sustained reductions in unnecessary clinical variability
to help patient safety with a focus on diagnostic accuracy and stewardship. He is
passionate about using patient centered clinical themes to achieve metric success
and created a unit-based safety score approach that drives rapid cycle improvement
at scale. His research expertise focuses on improving outcomes of populations at risk
of hospital acquired disability through multidisciplinary teaming and implementation
of early diagnostics in sepsis to reduce mortality. His team has demonstrated systemwide
improvement of sepsis mortality, length of stay, safe discharge home, and reduction
in antibiotic exposure while also improving outcomes of patients determined to not
have sepsis despite high-risk features. He is the Chairperson for the Catholic Health
Association's Clinical Quality Affinity group and was recognized by Beckers Healthcare
in 2025 as a patient safety expert to know. His performance improvement and quality
team have won 5 Vizient Brilliance awards and helped FMOL Health achieve a Leapfrog
A in every FMOL Health facility in Louisiana. Dr. Thomas’ clinical activities include
supervision of Pulmonary and Critical Care services at OLOL.
