USC welcomes brains researchers Arthur Toga and Paul Thompson

  • Publication date September 24, 2013

USC officially welcomed brain researchers Arthur Toga and Paul Thompson during a reception held at the University Park campus. The two nationally recognized researchers formerly with UCLA, brought the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging (LONI) including their team of 110 faculty, researchers and multidisciplinary staff in the field of brain mapping and neuroimaging to USC this fall.

(left to right) USC Provost and Senior Vice President Elizabeth Garrett, professor Paul Thompson and professor Arthur Toga view a rare book placed in the USC library in their honor as they join the USC faculty in Los Angeles September 23, 2013. Photograph by Gus Ruelas
(left to right) USC Provost and Senior Vice President Elizabeth Garrett, professor Paul Thompson and professor Arthur Toga view a rare book placed in the USC library in their honor as they join the USC faculty in Los Angeles September 23, 2013. Photograph by Gus Ruelas

“USC prides itself on recruiting transformative faculty who excel in their own fields of interest and whose affinity for collaboration helps erase the boundaries between disciplines,” said USC President C. L. Max Nikias. “This cluster hire will help us move one step closer to understanding the structure and function of the human brain. Professors Toga and Thompson — and their talented team — will enhance the quality of this research at USC and improve the lives of people around the world.”

Toga and Thompson hold joint appointments at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering. Their team includes faculty, researchers, programmers, data analysts and doctoral students working to detail how diseases — such as Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia and depression — are physiologically and chemically reflected in structural changes to the brain.