Drew Thompson
Director of China Studies, Nixon Center, Washington, D.C.
Drew Thompson is the Director of China Studies and Starr Senior Fellow at The Nixon Center in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining The Nixon Center, he was the National Director of the China-MSD HIV/AIDS Partnership in Beijing, a 5 year, $30 million HIV/AIDS program established by Merck & Co. and the Chinese Ministry of Health. Mr. Thompson served previously as Assistant Director to the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He also was the President of a Washington, D.C. company that manufactured snack food in Qingdao, China. He lived in Shanghai from 1993 to 1998 where he was the General Manager of a U.S. freight forwarding and logistics firm, overseeing offices in Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjing. Mr. Thompson was the founder and Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce Transportation and Logistics Committee in Shanghai and has traveled extensively throughout China in both urban and rural areas.
Mr. Thompson studied Chinese language at Beijing University in 1990, and was a graduate student in 1992 at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Chinese and American Studies in Nanjing, China. He graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Asian Studies from Hobart College in 1992, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 2004, Mr. Thompson received an M.A. in Government, with a concentration in Homeland Security, from Johns Hopkins University.
Mr. Thompson has authored articles on security, public health and HIV/AIDS in The International Herald Tribune, China; An International Journal; The South China Morning Post; Seton Hall Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations; Taiwan Business Next Magazine; and co-authored articles in The China Business Review and Arms Control Today,andis a regular contributor to the China Brief. Mr. Thompson has conducted live television interviews for the BBC, Voice of America and CNBC Asia.
Areas of Expertise:
- U.S.-China Relations
- China’s Domestic Challenges, Non-traditional Security Threats
- China’s Public Health System, Global Health Governance, HIV/AIDS
- Chinese Foreign Policy