DR. WHO?
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT THOMAS GLASS, MD
Aaron Burch
It takes a village to make a physician. For allergist and immunologist Dr. Thomas Glass, that village was formed in the small town of Somerset, Ky. His parents Thomas and Joyce Glass instilled in their children an enduring work ethic. From an early age, they learned to contribute to the family.
“ My parents worked hard. They taught us to be responsible, accountable, take pride and find something you enjoy,” he recalled.“ I remember my father telling me that your greatest source of energy comes from pride and enjoyment of what you’ re doing. So find something you enjoy.”
In the early days, the thing Dr. Glass enjoyed the most was spending time outdoors and playing sports. As the middle child, surrounded by two older sisters and two younger ones, he spent his formative years playing football, basketball and baseball; he ran track as well.
“ I did that all the way through high school with plans of playing baseball after college, though those plans fell through. I loved anything to do with the outdoors,” Dr. Glass said, recalling when he helped to map cave systems in Pulaski County during high school and college.
He did well in school but, despite an early interest in science, the topic of medicine as a career didn’ t come up. His closest medical influences growing up were friends of his parents, and the pediatrician.
As a student, he pursued an interest in biology, thanks in part to several passionate science teachers at his high school in Somerset. Of the 11 students from his high school class who went on to Georgetown College, eight majored in biology and three went into medicine.“ They really put a fire in us. We had great teachers and what goes around comes around,” Dr. Glass said.
While at Georgetown, Dr. Glass was introduced to Dr. Dwight Lindsay, the head of the biology department, and his son, also named Dwight, who would later be Dr. Glass’ partner at the Allergy Care practice.
“ Before I went to medical school, I actually went to dental school at the University of Kentucky for two years,” said Dr. Glass, a lifelong Kentucky Wildcat fan.“ But I found that dental school didn’ t fit me. There wasn’ t a passion for it. My best friend, Dr. Brad Mays, was going to medical school in Louisville and he told me I needed to come for a summer to see what the lab experience was like.
“ It seemed like a good idea while I was figuring out what to do, so I took him up on it and was introduced to Dr. Bill Cheadle and Dr. Hiram C. Polk. They invited me to work in their lab for a summer and that summer turned into a year,” he laughed.
The influence of Dr. Cheadle and Dr. Polk has been long-lasting; the doctors provided an excellent mentorship for his early years of medical training.
“ They gave me great experience, kept me on point and wrote me great letters of recommendation. If it takes a village to make a physician, they were definitely two of the people who helped me become the doctor I am today.”
During his General Surgery rotation, Dr. Glass met Mindy, the ICU nurse who became his wife. He graduated from the University
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Editor’ s Note: Welcome to Louisville Medicine’ s member spotlight section, Dr. Who? In the interest of simply getting to know each other as a society of colleagues, we’ ll be highlighting random GLMS physicians on a regular basis. If you would like to recommend any GLMS physician member to the Editorial Board for this section, please e-mail aaron. burch @ glms. org or call him at 736-6338.
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