Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry, Radiology, Engineering & Ophthalmology Director, NIH ENIGMA “Big Data” Center of Excellence Associate Dean for Research, Keck USC School of Medicine Director, USC Imaging Genetics Center
Paul Thompson directs the ENIGMA Consortium, a global alliance of 307 scientists in 33 countries who conduct the largest studies of 10 major brain diseases – ranging from schizophrenia, depression, ADHD, bipolar illness and OCD, to HIV and addictions on the brain. ENIGMA’s genomic screens of over 31,000 people’s brain scans and genome–wide data (published in Nature Genetics, 2012; Nature, 2015) have brought together experts from 185 institutions to unearth genetic variants that affect brain structure, disease risk, and brain connectivity. At USC, Dr. Thompson is Associate Dean for Research at the Keck School of Medicine and a Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry, Radiology, Pediatrics, Engineering, and Ophthalmology. Using worldwide medication screens, ENIGMA discovers factors that affect progression of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, schizophrenia, depression and childhood brain disorders. One study unites teams from the Thai Red Cross, the US, and South Africa, and uses methods developed by Dr Thompson’s team (Nature, 2000) to study how treatments restore brain growth in HIV+ children. Dr. Thompson also directs the USC Imaging Genetics Center– a group of 35 scientists in Marina del Rey. His team created the first maps of Alzheimer’s disease and schizophrenia spreading in the living brain, and a method to track brain growth in children. Dr. Thompson has an M.A. in mathematics and Greek and Latin Languages from Oxford University, and a PhD in neuroscience from UCLA.