Marshall Thomas, PhD

Dr. Thomas is a biologist, educator, and the founder of Enact Academy. He earned his PhD in biology at Harvard and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in education, also at Harvard. He has deep experience creating new online and technology-enabled academic programs. Prior to founding Enact, Dr. Thomas was an Assistant Professor and the Founding Director of the Division of Basic Sciences at UGHE, a new top-tier medical school in Africa. UGHE’s medical program leads in the use of educational technology and emphasizes blended learning approaches. Dr. Thomas hired and trained the founding team at the Division of Basic Sciences, co-wrote the medical school curriculum, established partnerships with leading universities and education technology companies, and ensured the opening of the school in 2019. While in Rwanda, he also volunteered as a teacher at Bridge2Rwanda, a nonprofit that helps promising young East Africans gain entry into international universities.

Before his work at UGHE, Dr. Thomas developed innovative online programs at Harvard University. At Harvard Medical School, he was a key member of the team that launched the HMX program, first creating online pre-medical science courses as a postdoctoral fellow in education, and then leading online course development as the Associate Director of Teaching and Research. Additionally, Dr. Thomas worked with leading Harvard faculty at HarvardX to create online science courses. Dr. Thomas has authored 15 peer-reviewed research papers and reviews in the fields of immunology, education research, and publishing equity in science.