Wesley Thompson has taken on a new role as the PrEP Medical Consultant with the NC Department of Health and Human Services, Communicable Disease Branch after retiring from 38 years of patient care. Wesley was the HIV Medical Director of Amity Medical Group, which currently has 6 locations in the Charlotte, North Carolina area. During those 38 years, he provided primary care to the HIV/AIDS population of Mecklenburg County and surrounding counties as well as routine medical care to the LGBTQIA+ community. Wesley is a board-certified physician assistant and the first physician assistant to be certified as an HIV Specialist in the state of North Carolina and one of the first in the United States. He has co-investigated in over 60 clinical trials for new medications in the fight against HIV. Wesley has had the honor to serve as guest lecturer at Davidson University, Duke University, UNCC, CPCC, Wake Forest University and as an Adjunct Professor at Wingate University. He also served as a speaker for the National Ryan White Action Campaign. Wesley serves on the North Carolina HIV Medication Assistance Program (HMAP), sat on the board of CarolinasCare AIDS Service Organization, and is co-chair of the Southeast Chapter of the American Academy of HIV Medicine. He served on the Board of Directors for the Regional AIDS Interfaith Network (RAIN) and the AIDSWALK Committee. He also had the honor of co-chairing of the Mecklenburg County Commissioners HIV Task Force (which has evolved into the Getting to Zero campaign) and he was the Co-Chair of the Quality Management Ryan White Grant Committee for Mecklenburg County. Wesley served on the Board of Directors for the North Carolina AIDS Alliance Network (NCAAN) and is a member of and speaker for the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH). He continues to travel the East Coast educating healthcare providers about PrEP, and as part of Safari Doctors, recently completed a month-long medical mission trip to Kenya.
Thompson received his Bachelor of Arts at Wake Forest in 1982, his Bachelor of Health Science and Physician Assistant degree at Duke in 1987 and his Master in Health at Duke in 1991. In 2023, Wesley was honored with the Nexus Award for his innovative care to the HIV/AIDS population. He was named 2021 America’s Top PA: Infectious Disease – HIV/AIDS by POCN. In 2016, Wesley was given the Long-Term Survivors Award granted by the NC DHHS CDB. In January 2009, Wesley was awarded the Distinguished Fellow Status from the American Academy of Physician Assistants, and in December 2009, received the lifetime achievement award from Metrolina AIDS Project (MAP) for community service and ongoing financial support. He was honored with the 2005 TheBody.com HIV Leadership Award for his work in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Wesley attends St. Peter’s Episcopal Church where he served as a Eucharistic Minister. He shares his life with Mark (Trey) Owen who he has loved from the moment they met 38 years ago. After Trey’s successful battle against Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia and his receipt of an adult stem cell transplant from Germany, the couple traveled to Vancouver, B.C. and were married on November 18, 2006, on the exact day and to the hour they met twenty years earlier. Trey is retired from IBM. The couple shares their home with Astro and Jackson, their Miniature Schnauzers.
Wesley continues to travel the country educating providers and patients alike on HIV care and prevention. He is passionate and truly enjoys educating and inspiring others. If you are interested in having Wesley as a keynote speaker, an educator, or as a consultant, please use this link to make a request.
