Laura Thomas is the San Francisco deputy state director where she oversees the organization’s Model City Initiative for San Francisco. She has 20 years of experience in HIV and public health policy, along with a strong commitment to community advocacy, thoughtful policy analysis and coalition building. She first became involved in AIDS activism with ACT UP in San Francisco. Most recently, she was a consultant specializing in HIV policy and planning, with clients ranging from the California State Office of AIDS to the National Association of People with AIDS. Before that she worked for Tenderloin Health and Continuum HIV Day Services, nonprofit health and social service providers serving a predominantly homeless population in San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood, and for the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Thomas has been a needle exchange volunteer for more than 10 years, and helped organize a successful 2007 symposium on safe injection facilities.  She is proud to have received the AIDS Hero Award from the 2000 AIDS Candlelight Memorial. She is chairperson of the board of directors for WORLD - Women Organizing to Respond to Life-threatening Disease and also serves on the board of the Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center in San Francisco.

Thomas graduated from the University of California Berkeley in 1995 with a Masters in public health and a Masters in public policy. She also holds a B.A. in English from Wesleyan University.