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Wesley Thompson, Ph.D.


Principal Investigator, LIBR
Co-Director, Center for Population Neuroscience and Genetics, LIBR
CURRICULUM VITAE
GOOGLE SCHOLAR

Center for Population Neuroscience and Genetics (PNG)


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Our Research Approach


Dr. Thompson's research focuses on the development and application of semi-parametric Bayesian hierarchical and mixture models for multivariate data, with applications to diverse areas of biological psychiatry.

​These applications include:
  • Human brain imaging and other biological markers of mental illness
  • Improved replication and polygenic risk score estimation from genome-wide association studies
  • Estimation of developmental trajectories and prediction of outcomes from incomplete longitudinal data
  • Prediction of clinical outcomes from intensively sampled longitudinal data.

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CONTACT DR. THOMPSON
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Visit the PNG Center

Research Program Highlights


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Large-scale Multi-modal Neuroimaging Analyses
We are developing multivariate methods to enhance the power and validity of associating brain measures with behavioral outcomes and to obtain unbiased estimates of the impact of genetics and environment on behavioral outcomes, as mediated by multi-modal neuroimaging data.  
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Polygenic Inferences
We utilize the genetics as an inferential instrument for gaining insight into the molecular processes underlying brain development. We are particularly interested in a) genetic determinants on high-dimensional multivariate outcomes, b) enhancing predictions using multi-omics, and c) robust inferences across genetic ancestry background. 
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National Registries and Biobanks
Global efforts linking biosamples and health registries have enabled researchers to examine the relationships between genes and diseases without the problem of ascertainment biases. We have international collaborations that allow us to apply our approaches on large-scale population data to understand the path from neural circuits to psychiatric illness​.

Scientific Background


Dr. Thompson earned his Ph.D. in Statistics from Rutgers University in 2003, with a focus on statistical methods for longitudinal data analysis. He was appointed Assistant Professor of Statistics and Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh in 2005, where he received a five year NIH K25 Career Development Award to develop novel methods for studying co-variation in brain function and depression. Dr. Thompson joined the UCSD Department of Psychiatry in 2008. In 2022, Dr. Thompson joined the Laureate Institute for Brain Research to form the Center for Population Neuroscience and Genetics with his longtime colleague, Dr. Chun Fan. His current work involves Bayesian semi-parametric and mixture models with applications to (i) improving effect size estimation, replication, and prediction in genome-wide association studies, (ii) predicting onset of illness from multivariate biomarker trajectories, (iii) applications of functional data analysis to functional MRI data.

Meet Our Team


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Bohan Xu
Data Scientist
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Firas Naber
Research Assistant

Selected Publications


Marek S, et al. Reproducible brain-wide association studies require thousands of individuals. Nature. 2022 Mar;603(7902):654-660.
Desikan RS, et al. Genetic assessment of age-associated Alzheimer disease risk: Development and validation of a polygenic hazard score. PLoS Med. 2017 Mar 21;14(3):e1002258.
Johnson DC, Thom NJ, Stanley EA, Haase L, Simmons AN, Shih PA, Thompson WK, Potterat EG, Minor TR, Paulus MP. Modifying resilience mechanisms in at-risk individuals: a controlled study of mindfulness training in Marines preparing for deployment. Am J Psychiatry. 2014 Aug;171(8):844-53.
Teed AR, Feinstein JS, Puhl M, Lapidus RC, Upshaw V, Kuplicki RT, Bodurka J, Ajijola OA, Kaye WH, Thompson WK, Paulus MP, Khalsa SS. Association of Generalized Anxiety Disorder With Autonomic Hypersensitivity and Blunted Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Activity During Peripheral Adrenergic Stimulation: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry. 2022 Apr 1;79(4):323-332.
Dick AS, Garcia NL, Pruden SM, Thompson WK, Hawes SW, Sutherland MT, Riedel MC, Laird AR, Gonzalez R. No evidence for a bilingual executive function advantage in the nationally representative ABCD study. Nat Hum Behav. 2019 Jul;3(7):692-701.
Thomas ML, et al. Paradoxical Trend for Improvement in Mental Health With Aging: A Community-Based Study of 1,546 Adults Aged 21-100 Years. J Clin Psychiatry. 2016 Aug;77(8):e1019-25.
Paulus MP, Squeglia LM, Bagot K, Jacobus J, Kuplicki R, Breslin FJ, Bodurka J, Morris AS, Thompson WK, Bartsch H, Tapert SF. Screen media activity and brain structure in youth: Evidence for diverse structural correlation networks from the ABCD study. Neuroimage. 2019 Jan 15;185:140-153.
Pelham WE 3rd, et al. Early Adolescent Substance Use Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Survey in the ABCD Study Cohort. J Adolesc Health. 2021 Sep;69(3):390-397.
FULL LIST OF PUBLICATIONS

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  • HOME
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  • PEOPLE
    • ALL STAFF
    • INVESTIGATORS >
      • PRINCIPAL >
        • ROBIN AUPPERLE
        • CHUN CHIEH FAN
        • SALVADOR GUINJOAN
        • SAHIB KHALSA
        • MARTIN PAULUS
        • JONATHAN SAVITZ
        • RYAN SMITH
        • JENNIFER STEWART
        • WESLEY THOMPSON
        • EVAN WHITE
      • ASSOCIATE >
        • LEANDRA FIGUEROA-HALL
        • MARIA IRONSIDE
        • MASAYA MISAKI
        • AKI TSUCHIYAGAITO
        • HAIXIA ZHENG
      • AFFILIATE >
        • HAMED EKHTIARI
        • NAMIK KIRLIC
        • RENE HURLEMANN
        • HEEKYEONG PARK
        • PHILIP SPECHLER
      • MRI and EEG FACILITY >
        • MICHAEL ROHAN
    • ADMINISTRATIVE
    • SCIENTIFIC
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