"So many racial disparities in health care" - Gabby Thomas opens up on the reason behind her dream to run her own hospital

By Animesh Pandey

Modified Nov 03, 2024 06:38 GMT

Olympic champion Gabby Thomas has been very passionate about serving people through healthcare. The 27-year-old sprinter is also a medical professional recently talked about her dream to run her own hospital.

In the second episode of the podcast ‘Set and Pace’, hosted by Rob and Becs and recorded live from the Citizens Stage at the TCS New York City Marathon Expo presented by New Balance, Thomas mentioned how she aimed to use her status as a professional athlete for health awareness.

"Well, having this platform has been incredible because it does give you the opportunity to raise awareness and kind of start conversations that I've been always kind of passionate about. So before I became a professional athlete, I wanted to go into healthcare, and I wanted to go into non-profit space, and one day, run my own hospital, and address health disparities"[34:35 onwards]

When not competing as an athlete, Thomas believes in health equity, i.e. healthcare without any kind of discrimination. The athlete talked about how she aims to end racial disparities in health care with her efforts.

"So there are so many racial disparities in health care that exist today that I wanted to go and combat, and so began by having a platform to talk about those issues, to share with people what I do in epidemiology, what I do with healthcare, what I do at the clinic in Austin, which is provide people with healthcare who don't have access to," the athlete added.

Apart from competing for the USA as a sprinter, Gabby Thomas is a practicing medical professional at the Volunteer Healthcare Clinic in Austin, Texas. She completed her master of public health degree in epidemiology from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, Texas.

---

Gabby Thomas on her neurobiology degree, contributed in her success at the Paris Olympics

Gabby Thomas celebrating after winning the women's 200m event at the Paris Olympics [Image Source : Getty]

Gabrielle 'Gabby' Thomas surprised everyone with her performance at the Paris Olympics, where she won three Olympic gold medals. Previously, Thomas had won a silver medal and a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.

A few weeks after the quadrennial event in Paris, Thomas opened up in an interview with CNN on how her neurobiology degree helped her gain success in Paris.

"I have a really strong foundation on that and that was one of the reasons why I wanted to pursue neurobiology as my major and having that deep understanding of it I think has really helped me in my track career as well because I understand what it takes to get this level. I understand the mindset, I understand all those little things that make a big difference and the mindset is a difference stream to being on the podium or not," said Thomas.

The 27-year-old sprinter has done her graduation from Harvard University in neurobiology and global health before she decided to pursue her master's in epidemiology. In another interview with NBC News, she mentioned how having a career outside track and field has helped in her success as a professional athlete. In her words,

"I have a really strong foundation on that and that was one of the reasons why I wanted to pursue neurobiology as my major and having that deep understanding of it I think has really helped me in my track career as well because I understand what it takes to get this level. I understand the mindset, I understand all those little things that make a big difference and the mindset is a difference stream to being on the podium or not."

Gabby Thomas won the Olympic gold medal in the women's 200m event at the Paris Olympics, edging out the 100m champion, Julien Alfred from Saint Lucia. She also contributed to the gold medals won by Team USA in the women's 4x100m relay, as well as the women's 4x400m relay event at the Paris Olympics.