Linda Thompson graduated from Finneytown High School in 1965. While attending Finneytown she was active in concert choirs and ensemble, student council, National Honor Society, Red Mill, and Escapades.

After graduation, she attended the University of Michigan graduating with a B.S in Cellular Biology (1968), M.S. Biological Chemistry (1971), Ph.D. Biological Chemistry (1973). She did her post-doctoral training at the University of California, San Diego Department of Medicine (1977-1980).

Currently she is a biomedical scientist conducting research in the field of immunology, working the private, not-for-profit research institution Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City. Additionally, she trains graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in the field of immunology and teaches at the University of Oklahoma. She is interested in inherited immunodeficiency diseases and the development of the human immune system.

Since the beginning of her independent research career in 1980, she has attracted grants from The National Institutes of Health totaling over $5.5 million. She has published 98 papers and was named to hold the Putnam City Schools Endowed Chair in Cancer Research in 2001.

Ms. Thompson serves on review committees for The National Institutes of Health and The Department of Defense to review grant applications in the fields of immunology and breast cancer. She also reviews manuscripts for several prestigious scientific journals and serves on the boards for scientific journals and advisory boards for international scientific symposia.

Linda is an active member of several scientific societies and has served on the Publications Committee and Awards Committee for the American Association of Immunologists. She is also the co-founder of a small biotechnology company InterGenetics in Oklahoma City whose mission is to develop a diagnostic test to evaluate a woman’s genetic risk for breast cancer.