Thomas Okell

Thomas Okell is an Associate Professor and Sir Henry Dale Fellow at the University of Oxford, serving as Head of Neurovascular Imaging and Director of the OxCIN MRI Graduate Programme. His research focuses on developing non-invasive MRI methods to visualize cerebral blood flow and tissue perfusion, with emphasis on vessel-selective arterial spin labeling techniques for clinical applications in stroke and vascular diseases.

His primary research interests include Neuroimaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cerebral Blood Flow quantification, Perfusion Imaging, Vascular Imaging, Arterial Spin Labeling methodology, and Ultra-High Field MRI applications. Current work targets improving sensitivity for white matter perfusion imaging and developing accelerated acquisition techniques using advanced reconstruction methods for clinical translation.

Recent publications demonstrate significant advancements in vessel-encoded ASL, ultra-high temporal resolution 4D angiography, and machine learning acceleration techniques. Key trends include integration of angiography/perfusion/structural imaging, optimization for 7T scanners, and applications in population studies like UK Biobank.

Awards and honors:

• Sir Henry Dale Fellowship (Wellcome Trust/Royal Society)
• Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship

He currently supervises DPhil students Minhao Hu Hao Li and Qijia Shen, and collaborates with clinical researchers on patient studies involving stroke, arteriovenous malformations, and vascular cognitive impairment. His current Sir Henry Dale Fellowship supports ultra-high field MRI development for dementia-related applications, building on previous Royal Academy of Engineering funding for clinical translation of perfusion imaging.

He leads the Neurovascular Imaging group and Ultra High-Field MRI Physics team within the Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain (FMRIB), focusing on vessel-selective techniques and quantitative perfusion mapping for neurological disorders.