Matthew J Thomas, ScM, GC
Genetic Counselor
Additional Locations
Bio & Overview
Matthew Thomas, ScM, GC, was born and raised in Virginia Beach. He stayed in Virginia for college and received a bachelor’s degree from James Madison University. He left Virginia for two years to earn his master’s degree in genetic counseling from Johns Hopkins University.
In 2007, Mr. Thomas returned to Virginia and joined UVA as a pediatric genetic counselor. Six years later, he founded the first cardiovascular genetics program in Virginia.
As a cardiovascular genetic counselor, Mr. Thomas works alongside cardiologists, surgeons, and nurses to care for children and adults with inherited heart and vascular diseases. He sees patients with a variety of conditions, including heart muscle diseases, heart rhythm diseases, aneurysms, and high cholesterol. He is passionate about using our knowledge of genetics to: 1) improve the medical care of patients with inherited heart disease and 2) prevent major problems like sudden death in his patients' children, siblings, and other family members who may be at risk without knowing it yet or knowing what to do about it.
Mr. Thomas is an advocate to improve the access of genetic counseling for all Virginians. After genetic counseling licensure was signed into law in 2014, Mr. Thomas was appointed by the governor to serve on the Advisory Board of Genetic Counselors where he served as Chair from 2014-2017. He served as the Associate Chair for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the Department of Pediatrics from 2021 to 2023.
Mr. Thomas lives in Charlottesville with his wife, Shannon. He enjoys traveling, going out to dinner with his wife and friends, working out at the gym, and binge-watching a good TV series.
- Gender
- Male
- Languages
- English
- Age Groups Seen
- Infants (0-2)
Children (2-12)
Adolescents (12-21)
Adults (21-65)
Older Adults (65+)
- Certification
- American Board of Genetic Counseling (Certified Genetic Counselor)
- Additional Specialties
- Pediatric Genetics, Pediatric Genetics and Genomics
Highlights
Meet Matthew Thomas, ScM, CGC
My name is Matthew Thomas. I'm a cardiovascular genetic counselor here at the University of Virginia. I would say I'm most passionate about two things. So the first is using genetic testing, genetic counseling, my specialty, to help people find answers for why they have the condition they have. The second thing I am passionate about is providing information about diseases that are unfamiliar to most patients, and sometimes even their providers or their doctors. So people will often come to see us for an inherited heart disease that may be as rare as one in a thousand or one in 5,000 or one in 10,000. It's a privilege to be able to work with people who are facing these difficult situations, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to do it. If a patient has an inherited heart disease or they're concerned that they have an inherited heart condition, the reason they should come to the University of Virginia is because they're being seen by a team. I am one member of that team that can handle the genetic aspect of the appointment. We also have teams of cardiologists, cardiology nurses, cardiothoracic surgeons, and other specialists who are experts in the condition that these patients have, and we do whatever we can to see patients together at one visit as convenient as possible.
Awards
- 2025 Nominee for the Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Excellence in Scholarship Award
- 2024 Outstanding Genetic Counselor of Virginia Award from the Virginia Association of Genetic Counselors
- 2024 UVA Health Patient Experience Provider Award
- 2024 Outstanding Supervisor Award from Virginia Commonwealth University Genetic Counseling Master of Science Program
- 2023 UVA Health Patient Experience Provider Award
- 2023 Nominee for the Advanced Practice Provider (APP) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award
- 2020 Outstanding Supervisor Award from Indiana State University Master of Science in Genetic Counseling Program
- 2018 Best Bedside Manner Awards, OurHealth Charlottesville and Shenandoah Valley Magazine; Second Place, Clinical Genetics
- 2014 & 2016 Appointed to the Advisory Board on Genetic Counseling for the Commonwealth of Virginia by the Governor
- 2007 Beth Fine Kaplan Student Research Award for Best Student Abstract from the National Society of Genetic Counselors
- 2007 National Institutes of Health Award of Merit for the Hurricane Katrina Victim Identification Efforts
Reviews
202 Patient Satisfaction Ratings
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