Valerie Collins Thomas Joins National Trauma Institute as Development Director

SAN ANTONIO--(Business Wire)--
Valerie Collins Thomas, a longtime fundraiser in the state of
Pennsylvania has been recruited to be Development Director by the
National Trauma Institute, a non-profit, grant-giving organization for
trauma related research. She will be responsible for the National
Trauma Institute's philanthropic and private donor fundraising
efforts.

Ms. Thomas was the Director of Planned Giving for the Lehigh
Valley Hospital and Health Network in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania
where she raised over $500,000 in charitable gifts and donations; and
developed funding for a $2M endowed chair. Prior to that, she was
Director of Development for the Allentown Art Museum in Allentown,
Pennsylvania where she was responsible for funding a $1.6M operating
budget.

In addition to development positions in her career, Thomas has
also been Executive Director for the Pitt County Family Violence
Program in Greenville, North Carolina; Community Services Director for
the United Way of Pitt County; Needs and Resources Coordinator for the
Cumberland County Partnership for Children in Fayetteville, North
Carolina; and Corporate Relations Manager for the Volunteer Center of
United Way in San Antonio, Texas. Ms. Thomas began her professional
career with IBM Corporation where she was a System Engineer then an
Account Marketing Representative in Atlanta, Georgia and Washington,
DC. She was with IBM for thirteen years.

The National Trauma Institute's mission is to fund short-term (3-5
years) trauma-related research that will change and improve current
practices and procedures and thereby lower the number of deaths due to
trauma. Trauma-related deaths are the number one cause of death for
people ages 1-44; and trauma-related injuries occur everyday
throughout America and cost our country billions of dollars in
treatment and rehabilitation. Many Level 1 Trauma Centers throughout
the country have closed due to lack of funds. Time consuming and
repetitive surgeries, such as those necessary with traumatic injuries,
become too expensive for health plans to cover or for hospitals to get
reimbursed. The number of casualties and injuries has increased due to
the war and the opportunity to learn and implement best practices in
emergency situations needs to be researched and proven. As has been
shown with diseases such as AIDS and Cancer, when funds are allocated
to research and practices are changed, the number of deaths are
reduced.

National Trauma Institute
Teresa Nino, 210-316-6163
teresa.nino@nationaltraumainstitute.org

Copyright Business Wire 2008