Thomas Dooley is a queer poet and the author of Trespass (Harper Perennial, 2014), selected by poet and novelist Charlie Smith for the National Poetry Series and hailed by Booklist as “a masterful debut.” A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, his poetry and collaborations have appeared widely, most notably with PBS NewsHour, the Academy of American Poets, Poetry Society of America, on National Public Radio, and has received fellowships from New York University, Starlight Foundation, Jentel Foundation, and Vermont Studio Center. Thomas is the Founding Artistic Director of Poetry Well, an organization dedicated to celebrating and promoting poetry as a vital part of our individual and collective wellness. For the past decade, Thomas has pioneered the medical humanities in hospitals and clinics and has been invited to present on the intersections of illness and poetry at such prestigious institutions as the Mayo Clinic, Kings College London, University of Glasgow, Cornell Medical College, and Columbia University. Thomas has served as Poet-in-Residence at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York Presbyterian Columbia University Medical Center, and Overlook Medical Center, where he has designed and implemented narrative interventions for patients, caregivers, and clinical staff, in addition to founding two literary journals. Thomas serves as the inaugural Poet-in-Residence at the T. Denny Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion at University of California at San Diego, developing humanities curricula and arts programming.
