Tiểu sử
Dr. Karla Thornton is serving as interim director of Project ECHO as of April 24, 2025. An expert in infectious diseases, Dr. Karla Thornton has been with Project ECHO since its founding. While serving as the medical director of The University of New Mexico HIV clinic, Dr. Thornton became interested in hepatitis C treatment for her patients. She could not find a provider to treat them, so she learned to treat hepatitis C on her own.
In 2004, Dr. Thornton was asked to join Project ECHO as part of the hepatitis C ECHO program because of her unique expertise in HIV/hepatitis C co-infection. Dr. Thornton also led the hepatitis C ECHO program with the New Mexico Corrections Department, guiding the treatment of people who were incarcerated.
Seeing the need for education within the prison facilities, Dr. Thornton created the New Mexico Peer Education Project, providing peer-to-peer education about hepatitis C with the goal of reducing risky behaviors. Dr. Thornton launched the program in 2009 with single prison facility and today operates in all of New Mexico’s prison facilities. Dr. Thornton and her team also spearheaded the Community Peer Education Project to support people on parole complete the conditions of their release and successfully reintegrate into society.
One of the greatest privileges of her career, Dr. Thornton served as co-chair of the World Health Organization’s Guidelines Development Group for the treatment of HCV from 2017 to 2022. She is also a co-author of Hepatitis B Management: Guidance for the Primary Care Provider, published by the University of Washington’s Hepatitis B Online.
Dr. Thornton graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts; from the University of Michigan School of Public Health with a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology; and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in 1992. She completed her internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the University of New Mexico and then completed a two-year fellowship there in infectious diseases.