Paul M. Thompson

Paul M. Thompson, PhD is a Professor at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, with appointments across 8 departments including Neurology, Psychiatry, Biomedical Engineering, and Quantitative & Computational Biology. He leads the ENIGMA Consortium, a global network of 2500+ scientists across 47 countries conducting large-scale neuroimaging-genetics studies of 30+ brain disorders. His research integrates neuroimaging, mathematics, computer science, and clinical medicine to map brain diseases and develop AI tools for early detection.

• Education: MA in Mathematics & Classics (Oxford), PhD in Neuroscience (UCLA)
• Labs: Director of the USC Imaging Genetics Center (50+ researchers) and $11M NIH ENIGMA Center for Worldwide Medicine, Imaging & Genomics

Key research areas include:

• Alzheimer’s Disease: Identifying genetic risk variants and AI-driven subtyping for novel treatment targets
• Psychiatric Disorders: Mapping brain changes in schizophrenia, depression, OCD, and bipolar illness
• Developmental Neuroscience: Tracking brain growth in children and fetal programming effects
• Global Health: India ENIGMA Initiative studying brain aging in diverse populations

His recent publications focus on deep learning for MRI analysis, diffusion models for synthetic imaging, and genetic correlates of brain structure in journals like Nature Genetics, Science, and Nature.

• Major Awards:
  • 2023 Society for Brain Mapping & Therapeutics: Pioneer in Medicine Award
  • 2021 U.S. Alzheimer Association: Zenith Award
  • 2015 Kent Innovations in Academia Award
• Leadership:
  • Director, ENIGMA Center for Worldwide Medicine ($11M NIH)
  • Director, AI4AD ($18M NIH Initiative)
  • Founder, India ENIGMA Initiative