Thomas Theis

Bio

Dr. Thomas Theis is Associate Professor of Chemistry and Physics at North Carolina State University. The research addresses Global Health Disparities by making Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) broadly accessible. Specifically, the Theis lab develops hyperpolarization technology and unconventional MRI detection schemes that work at low magnetic fields, are inexpensive and portable. Theis received his PhD in 2012 from UC Berkeley working on “zero-field NMR” and “parahydrogen hyperpolarization schemes” for portable Magnetic Resonance (MR). Dr. Theis conducted postdoctoral research at Duke University (USA) with Prof. Warren Warren focused on “entangled quantum states for hyperpolarization storage”, and he worked on “low-field MRI” as visiting professor at RWTH Aachen University with Prof. Stephan Appelt (Germany). In 2015, he was promoted to Research Assistant Professor at Duke University developing “cost-efficient hyperpolarization techniques for molecular imaging”. Since 2018, Dr. Theis leads the NC State Hyperpolarization Laboratory at NC State University where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2023. and drives both fundamental development as well as commercial adoption and distribution of broadly scalable MRI to address Global Health Disparities.