Nicholas Thomas-Lewis

Biography

Nicholas Thomas-Lewis is majoring in cognitive science with a concentration in cognitive neuroscience as well as health and societies with a concentration in public health and minoring in neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania. Thomas-Lewis’s honors thesis is on the dual ‘neuromedicalization’ of adolescence and addiction and its impact on stigma and agency among adolescents with addiction. He is a mentor who supports literacy development and emotional wellbeing in West Philadelphia elementary schools through the Netter Center for Community Partnerships. Thomas-Lewis is captain of Penn’s varsity cheer team and a former speech captain for Penn Speech and Debate club. He has coached high school cheer and speech programs to state medal performances in his home of Nebraska. Thomas-Lewis also serves as a campus guide for the Kite & Key Society, is a vocal performer with the Penny Loafers, and is co-chair of the Admissions Dean’s Advisory Board. At Oxford, Thomas-Lewis hopes to pursue master’s degrees in evidence-based social intervention and policy evaluation and medical anthropology. Profoundly impacted by addiction in his family, Thomas-Lewis intends to develop community programs to support youth affected by addiction to provide care and preventive services while gathering evidence for more compassionate substance use policies.