Dr Welton Thomas

PhD, MSc, BSc (Hons)

Profile

Dr Welton is a Junior Principal Investigator (PI) at NNI and Assistant Professor at Duke-NUS. Dr Welton’s research focuses on MRI neuroimaging analysis, with particular focus on measuring brain connectomics and microstructure using diffusion imaging and functional MRI. At NNI, Dr Welton is applying analysis techniques using machine learning to clinical research questions in movement disorders, especially Parkinson's and essential tremor, and integrating this with blood-based and genetic biomarkers.

Education

PhD, Radiological Science
MSc, Translational Neuroimaging
BSc (Hons), Computer Science

Professional Appointments and Committee Memberships

ISMRM Publications Committee
ISMRM Trainee Advisory Group
ISMRM Ad-hoc Committee on Historical Abstracts
Movement Disorders Society, Junior Member
Organisation for Human Brain Mapping, Member
ISMRM, Junior Fellow
British Computer Society, Professional Member (MBCS), Chartered IT Professional (CITP), Chartered Engineer (CEng)
Ad-hoc peer reviewer for 15+ journals in medical imaging and medical science

Awards

National Neuroscience Institute, Gold Award, Best Junior Researcher, 2022
Movement Disorders Society, AOPMC Junior Award, 2021
ISMRM, Junior Fellowship, 2021
ISMRM, Magna Cum Laude Merit Award, 2021
National Neuroscience Institute, Gold Award, Best Junior Researcher, 2021
Motor Neurone Disease Victoria, 23rd Nina Buscombe Award, 2018
UK Guarantors of Brain Award, 2016
ISMRM, Magna Cum Laude Merit Award, 2015
University of Nottingham, Graduate School Prize, 2014
UK Guarantors of Brain Award, 2014
UK MS Society, PhD Studentship Award, 2014
Nottingham Trent University, Best Computer Science Dissertation, 2012

Research Interests

Magnetic resonance imaging acquisition and analysis
Brain connectomics and microstructure
Movement disorders, especially Parkinson’s disease and essential tremor
Integration of neuroimaging with blood-based and genetic biomarkers
Machine learning

Publications and Research Trials

Welton T, Tan YJ, Saffari SE, Chia N, Ng S, Lu Z, Yong ACW, Choi X, Heng D, Shih YC, Hartono S, Lee W, Xu Z, Tay KY, Au WL, Tan EK, Chan LL, Ng A & Tan L, 2020. Plasma Neurofilament Light Concentration is Associated with MRI-Based Measures of Neurodegeneration in Early Parkinson’s Disease. Journal of Parkinson’s Disease (accepted). IF: 5.5.
Welton T, Chan L, Carr J, Cardoso F, Deutchl G, Jankovic J & Tan EK, 2021. Essential Tremor. Nature Reviews Disease Primers 7:83. IF: 52.0.
Tan S*, Hartono S*, Welton T, Ning AC, Lim SL, Koh TS, Wen MC, Li H, Setiawan F, Ng S, Chia N, Liu S, Haacke EM, Tan EK, Tan L & Chan LL, 2021. Utility of Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping and Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging in the Diagnosis of Early Parkinson’s Disease. NeuroImage: Clinical (accepted). IF: 4.9.
Shih Y-C, Ooi QRL, Hartono S, Ann CN, Welton T, Lim SL, Tan EK & Chan LL, 2020. Twelve-Year Microstructural Changes in The Deep Gray Nuclei in Parkinson’s Disease: A Serial Diffusion Tensor Imaging Study.
Schilling KG, [138 others] & Descoteaux M, 2021. Tractography dissection variability: what happens when 42 groups dissect 14 white matter bundles on the same dataset? NeuroImage. IF: 5.9.
Welton T & Tan EK, 2021. Applying artificial intelligence to multi-omic data: new functional variants in Parkinson’s disease. Movement Disorders. 36(2):347. IF: 8.3.
Welton T*, Hellewell SC*, Lyon M, Eisenhuth K, Tchan M & Grieve SM, 2020. Diffusion kurtosis imaging detects subclinical white matter abnormalities in phenylketonuria. NeuroImage: Clinical. 29:102555. IF: 4.9.
Verrall C, Yang J, Chen J, Schembri A, d’Udekem Y, Zannino D, Kasparian N, Du Plessis K, Grieve S, Welton T, Barton B, Gentles T, Celermajer D, Attard C, Rice K, Ayer J, Mandelstam S, Winlaw D, MacKay M & Cordina R, 2020. Neurocognitive dysfunction and reduced brain volumes in adolescents and adults with a Fontan circulation. Circulation. 143(9):878-891. IF: 23.6.
Hellewell SC, Welton T, Pearce AJ, Maller JJ & Grieve SM, 2021. Diffusion MRI as a Complementary Assessment to Cognition, Emotion, and Motor Dysfunction After Sports-Related Concussion: A Systematic Review and Critical Appraisal of the Literature. Brain Imaging and Behaviour 15(3):1685-1704. IF: 3.9.
Meng D, Welton T, Elsarraj A, Morgan PS, das Nair R, Constantinescu CS, Evangelou N, Auer DP & Dineen RA, 2020. Dorsolateral prefrontal circuit effective connectivity mediates the relationship between white matter structure and PASAT-3 performance in multiple sclerosis. Human Brain Mapping 1-15. IF: 4.6.
Maller JJ, Grieve SM, Vogrin SJ & Welton T, 2019. Performance gains with CUDA-enabled eddy current correction for diffusion MRI. NeuroReport 31(10): 746-753. IF: 1.3.
Hellewell SC, Nguyen B, Jayasena R, Welton T & Grieve SM, 2019. Characteristic Patterns of White Matter Tract Injury in Sport-Related Concussion: An Image Based Meta-Analysis. NeuroImage: Clinical 26:102253. IF: 4.9.
Welton T, Constantinescu CS, Auer DP, & Dineen RA, 2019. Graph theoretic analysis of brain connectomics in multiple sclerosis: reproducibility and relationship to cognition. Brain Connectivity 10(2): 95-104. IF: 2.3.
Hellewell SC, Beaton CS, Welton T & Grieve SM, 2019. Characterizing the Risk of Depression Following Mild Traumatic Brain Injury: A Meta-Analysis of the Literature Comparing Chronic mTBI to Non-mTBI Populations. Frontiers in Neurology 11:350. IF: 3.6.
Shen K, Welton T, Lyon M, Burnham S, Fripp J, Martins R & Grieve SM, 2019. Structural core of the executive control network: a high angular resolution diffusion MRI study. Human Brain Mapping 41(5): 1226-1236. IF: 4.6.
Meng D, Hosseini AA, Simpson RJ, Welton T, Dineen RA & Auer DP, 2020. Large-scale network dysfunction in vascular cognitive disorder supports connectional diaschisis in advanced arteriosclerosis. European Journal of Neurology 27(2): 352-359. IF: 4.4.
Welton T, Indja BE, Maller JJ, Vallely M, Bannon P & Grieve SM, 2019. Replicable Brain Signatures of Emotional Bias and Memory Based on Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging of White Matter Tracts. Human Brain Mapping 41(5): 1274-1285. IF: 4.6.
Hellewell SC, Welton T, Maller JJ, Lyon M, Korgoankar MS, Koslow SH, Williams LM, Gordon E, Rush AJ & Grieve SM, 2019. Profound regional gray matter reductions characterize major depressive disorder: A replication and expanded analysis. Nature Translational Psychiatry 9:176. IF: 5.2.
Welton T, Maller JJ, Lebel RM, Tan ET, Rowe DB & Grieve SM, 2019. Diffusion Kurtosis and Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping MRI are Sensitive to Structural Abnormalities in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. NeuroImage: Clinical 24:101953. IF: 4.9.
Fullard K, Maller JJ, Welton T, Lyon M, Gordon E, Koslow SH & Grieve SM, 2018. Is occipital bending a structural biomarker of risk for depression and sensitivity to treatment? Journal of Clinical Neuroscience 63:55-61. IF: 1.9.
Lyon M, Welton T, Varda A, Maller JJ, Broadhouse K, Korgoankar MS, Koslow SH, Williams LM, Gordon E, Rush AJ & Grieve SM, 2018. Gender-specific white matter abnormalities in major depressive disorder revealed by fixel-based analysis. NeuroImage: Clinical 21:101668. IF: 4.9.
Welton T*, Maller JJ*, Middione M, Callaghan FM, Rosenfeld JV & Grieve SM, 2018. Revealing the Hippocampal Connectome through Super-Resolution 1150-Direction Diffusion MRI. Scientific Reports 9:2418. IF: 5.1.
Ather S, Proudlock FA, Welton T, Morgan PS, Sheth V, Gottlob I & Dineen RA, 2018. Aberrant visual pathway development in albinism: from retina to cortex. Human Brain Mapping 2018:1-12. IF: 4.6.
Callaghan F, Maller JJ, Welton T, Middione MJ, Shankaranarayanan A & Grieve SM, 2018. Toward personalized diffusion MRI in psychiatry: improved delineation of fibre bundles with the highest-ever angular resolution in vivo tractography. Nature Translational Psychiatry 8:91. IF: 5.2.
Welton T, Ather S, Proudlock FA, Gottlob I & Dineen RA, 2017. Altered whole-brain connectivity in albinism. Human Brain Mapping 38(2):740-752. IF: 4.6.
Welton T, Evett L, Sherkat N & Brown DJ, 2016. A brain-computer interface for the dasher text entry system. Universal Access in the Information Society 15:77-83. IF: 3.7.
Welton T, Kent D, Auer DP & Dineen RA, 2014. Reproducibility of graph theoretic brain network metrics: a systematic review. Brain Connectivity 5(4):193-202. IF: 2.3.
Welton T, Kent D, Auer DP, Constantinescu CS & Dineen RA, 2014. Functionally relevant white matter degradation in multiple sclerosis: a tract-based spatial meta-analysis. Radiology 275(1):89-96. IF: 7.9.

Research Trials

National Medical Research Council, Open Fund - Young Individual Research Grant (Principal Investigator). “Neural mechanisms of genetic risk for essential tremor: a multi-cohort, multi-modal, imaging-genetics study”. $SGD 300,000
SingHealth/Duke-NUS Academic Medical Centre, Academic Medicine Grants (Principal Investigator). “Using AI to detect Parkinson’s disease based on brain MRI connectomics”. $SGD 80,000