J. Thomas "Tommy" Vaughan, Jr.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are used to noninvasively observe the human anatomy, metabolism, and mind in states of health, disease, and therapeutic intervention.  These powerful new research tools will be developed in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and applied to basic research at the Zuckerman Mind, Brain, Behavior Institute and to translational research at the Columbia University Medical Center.

Vaughan was recruited from the University of Minnesota where he held the Quist-Henline Chair in Biomedical Research and was Director of Engineering at the Center of Magnetic Resonance Research, with appointments in Radiology, Biomedical Engineering, and Electrical Engineering.  Vaughan has enjoyed a thirty-year career in academic research at UT Southwestern, U. Alabama Birmingham, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard, and U. Minnesota.  In addition to the research centers he’s helped to found and build at these institutions, his achievements are recorded in 120 articles, a number of books and chapters, and 45 patents.  Thomas Vaughan is a Fellow in IEEE and ISMRM societies, on the editorial board of NMR in Biomedicine, active in the NIH and journal peer review, and CTO of two small biotech businesses, including one, MR Safe Devices, LLC.