Dr. Neal Thomas has a strong interest in multiple areas of clinical research related to critically ill and injured children, with a focus on pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome (PARDS) and pediatric sepsis. He has led and participated in many clinical trials in this field, funded by NIH, FDA, foundations and industry. He collaborates internationally with others in the field of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, and has been voted to leadership positions in multiple organizations in his specialty.

Recently, he was voted to serve as Vice-Chair of the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury and Sepsis Investigators (PALISI) Network, an international organization of more than 90 pediatric Intensive Care Units that focuses on clinical research. This network has generated more than 200 peer-reviewed publications to the field. In addition, he was one of three members of the Organizing Committee and the corresponding author of the Pediatric Acute Lung Injury Consensus Conference (PALICC), which defined PARDS for the first time and set the stage for future research focuses in PARDS.

In his role as Associate Dean for Clinical Research, Dr. Thomas is involved both locally and nationally with initiatives to streamline the clinical research process.