Professor of Radiology, Psychiatry & Biomedical Engineering
Director, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Email: AThomas@mednet.ucla.edu
Professional Training & Experience
To Date
Professor of Radiology, Psychiatry & Biomedical Engineering David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles CA
Director, MR Spectroscopy UCLA Radiological Sciences MR Physicist Consultant Harbor-UCLA Radiology Imaging Center
2000-2006
Associate Professor of Radiology UCLA Radiological Sciences
2000-2001
MR Consultant BF Research Institute GE 3T MRI Facility, Osaka, Japan
1993-2000
Assistant Professor of Radiology & Psychiatry UCLA Medical School, Los Angeles CA
1990-1993
Director, Clinical MR Spectroscopy Research University of Wisconsin, Madison WI Assistant Scientist of Radiology & Medical Physics University of Wisconsin, Madison WI
1990-1990
Postdoctoral Fellowship: Radiology & Medical Physics University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI
1987-1990
Visiting Assistant Research Spectroscopist Magnetic Resonance Unit Departments of Medicine V.A. Medical Center UCSF, San Francisco CA
Visiting Scientist: Physics Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India
1984-1985
Postdoctoral Fellowship: Chemistry Purdue University, West Lafayette IN
1984
Doctor of Philosophy: in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, India
1978
Master of Science: in Physicis American College Madurai University Madurai, India
Research Interests
Physics of MR imaging and spectroscopy
developments of new MR spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) techniques
Evaluation of MRSI techniques in healthy tissues and in different pathologies
Current Research Projects
Development of Multi-dimensional MR Spectroscopic Techniques and Evaluation in Different Diseases To implement 2-, 3- and 4-dimensional MRS techniques, and to evaluate them in human tissues
Two-Dimensional MR Spectroscopic Characterization of HE To correlate the metabolite ratios using the 2D L-COSY sequence on a 1.5T MRI scanner with neuronpsychological test battery, and MRI of basal ganglia.
Biochemical and Anatomical Correlates of Human Breast Cancer In Vivo To correlate the anatomical changes with that of the biochemicals (metabolites and lipids) in breast cancer and healthy women.
A Novel Assay of Citrate, Choline, and Spermine in Prostate Cancer In Vivo To detect the biochemical changes in malignant and benign prostate cancer compared to healthy men.
Neurobiological & Behavioral Substrates of Mood Disorders To record the anatomical and biochemical changes in geriatric depression.
MR & Neuroendocrine Analysis of Bipolar Disorder and Alcohol Abuse Comorbidity To record the metabolite levels in bipolar & healthy controls
Implementation and Evaluation of Cardiac MRSI in Humans To implement and evaluate cardiac proton MRS