Elizabeth Thom, MSc, MA, PhD

Elizabeth A. Thom is a Research Professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics.

• Phone: (301) 881-9260
• Fax: (301) 816-0385
• Email: e_thom@biostat.bsc.gwu.edu

Personal and professional interests converged for Professor Thom as she was pursuing her PhD in statistics here at The George Washington University. GW's Biostatistics Center had just been funded as the Data Coordinating Center for the Neonatal Research Network and the Maternal Fetal Medicine Units (MFMU) Network, multi-center groups that were looking at perinatal and neonatal medicine, with a special focus on the etiology and sequelae of prematurity. Her intellectual fascination with the field was heightened by the fact that her own son had been born prematurely. Dr. Thom quickly stepped into leadership positions at the MFMU Network coordinating center, funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and has been Principal Investigator since 1998.

A member of the American Statistical Association and the Society for Clinical Trials, Dr. Thom has led workshops at NICHD's annual conference on maternal-fetal-neonatal medicine for more than a decade and is a frequent speaker at professional meetings on those topics.

Education

Bachelor of Arts (Mathematics), University of Oxford, United Kingdom, 1970
Master of Science (Biometry), University of Reading, United Kingdom, 1971
Master of Arts (Mathematics) University of Oxford, United Kingdom, 1978
Doctor of Philosophy (Mathematical Statistics), The George Washington University, 1992

Research

Dr. Thom's main research interests focus on the design of clinical trails and the application of biostatistics and epidemiology to perinatal medicine and fetal diagnosis and therapy. In addition to her responsibilities at the MFMU Network, Dr. Thom is Principal Investigator of the Data and Study Coordinating Center for the NICHD-funded multi-center studies comparing in-utero versus postnatal surgical repair of myelomeningocele.

Community Service

Professor Thom chairs the Intramural Data and Safety Monitoring Board of the National Human Genome Research Institute. She is also on the Data and Safety Monitoring Board of the NICHD Cooperative Multicenter Reproductive Medicine Network; the Protocol Review Committee of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Network; and the Advisory and Safety Boards for the NICHD Stillbirth Collaborative Research Network and the Prenatal Alcohol, SIDS and Stillbirth Research Network.

Departments

• Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Institutes & Centers

• Biostatistics Center

Research Activities

• Chorionic Villus Sampling and Amniocentesis Study
• Early Amniocentesis and Late Transabdominal CVS (EATA) Study Group
• Maternal Fetal Medicine Units Network (MFMU)
• Myelomeningocele Repair Randomized Trial (MOMS)

Publications

• Issues in clinical trial design: stopping a trial early and the large and simple trial.
  Thom EA, Klebanoff MA. Issues in clinical trial design: stopping a trial early and the large and simple trial. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2005;193:619-25.
• Progesterone for prevention of recurrent preterm birth: impact of gestational age at previous delivery.
  Spong CY, Meis PJ, Thom EA, Sibai B, Dombrowski MP, Moawad AH, et al., for the NICHD Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network. Progesterone for prevention of recurrent preterm birth: impact of gestational age at previous delivery. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2005;193:1056-60.
• Perinatal outcomes in women with preterm rupture of membranes between 24-32 weeks and a history of vaginal bleeding.
  Hnat MD, Mercer BM, Miodovnik M, Thurnau G, Goldenberg R, Thom E, et al., for the NICHD Maternal Fetal Medicine Units Network. Perinatal outcomes in women with preterm rupture of membranes between 24-32 weeks and a history of vaginal bleeding. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2005;193:164-8.
• Elevated first-trimester nuchal translucency increases the risk of congenital heart defects.
  Bahado-Singh R, Wapner R, Thom E, Zachary J, Platt L, Mahoney MJ, et al., for the First Trimester Maternal Serum Biochemistry and Fetal Nuchal Translucency Screening (BUN) Study Group. Elevated first-trimester nuchal translucency increases the risk of congenital heart defects. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2005;192:1357-61.
• Late first-trimester placental disruption and subsequent gestational hypertension/preeclampsia.
  Silver RK, Wilson RD, Philip J, Thom EA, Zachary JM, Mohide P, et al. for the NICHD EATA Trial Group. Late first-trimester placental disruption and subsequent gestational hypertension/preeclampsia. Obstet Gynecol 2005;105:587-92.
• Association of extreme first-trimester free human chorionic gonadotropin-beta, pregnancy-associated plasma protein A, and nuchal translucency with intrauterine growth restriction and other adverse pregnancy outcomes.
  Krantz D, Goetzl L, Simpson JL, Thom E, Zachary J, Hallahan TW, et al., for the First Trimester Maternal Serum Biochemistry and Fetal Nuchal Translucency Screening (BUN) Study Group. Association of extreme first-trimester free human chorionic gonadotropin-beta, pregnancy-associated plasma protein A, and nuchal translucency with intrauterine growth restriction and other adverse pregnancy outcomes. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2005;191:1452-8. Available from: URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?
  cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15507982
• Sequential pathways of testing after first-trimester screening for trisomy 21.
  Platt LD, Greene N, Johnson A, Zachary J, Thom E, Krantz D, et al., for the First Trimester Maternal Serum Biochemistry and Fetal Nuchal Translucency Screening (BUN) Study Group. Sequential pathways of testing after first-trimester screening for trisomy 21. Obstet Gynecol 2004;104:661-6.
• Late first-trimester invasive prenatal diagnosis: results of an international randomized trial.
  Philip J, Silver R, Wilson RD, Thom E, Zachary J, et al. Late first-trimester invasive prenatal diagnosis: results of an international randomized trial. Obstet Gynecol 2004;103(6):1164-73.
• Randomized trial of inhaled beclomethasone dipropionate versus theophylline for moderate asthma during pregnancy.
  Dombrowski M, Schatz M, Wise R, Thom E, Landon M, Mabie W, et al., for the NICHD Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network and The NHLBI. Randomized trial of inhaled beclomethasone dipropionate versus theophylline for moderate asthma during pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2004;190(3):737-44.
• First-trimester screening for trisomies 21 and 18.
  Wapner RJ, Thom EA, Simpson JL, et al. First-trimester screening for trisomies 21 and 18. New Engl J Med 2003;349:1405-13.
• Prevention of recurrent preterm delivery by 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate.
  Meis P, Klebanoff M, Thom E, Dombrowski M, Sibai S, Moawad A, et al., for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Network of Maternal Fetal Medicine Units, Bethesda MD. Prevention of recurrent preterm delivery by 17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone caproate. New Engl J Med 2003;348:2379-85.
• What we have learned about conducting randomized controlled trials in the NICHD MFMU Network.
  Thom E, Rouse D for the NICHD Maternal Fetal Medicine Units Network. What we have learned about conducting randomized controlled trials in the NICHD MFMU Network. Semin Perinatol 2003;27(3):253-60.