Robert C. Welsh

Robert C. Welsh, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Adjunct - Psychiatry

Divisions: Adult Psychiatry

Academic Office Information

robert.c.welsh@utah.edu

Research Interests

  • Functional Neuroimaging
  • Diffusion Tensor Imaging
  • Brain Connectome Mapping
  • Neurodegenerative Diseases
  • Minority Groups
  • Advanced MRI Imaging
  • Advanced Medical Imaging and Image Data Analysis
  • Aging
  • Brain Mapping
  • Machine Learning
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Artificial Neural Networks
  • Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
  • Mathematics and Physics of Medical Imaging with Emphasis on Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Mathematical Computing
  • Mathematical Modeling

Robert C. Welsh, PhD, is an interdisciplinary neuroscientific investigator and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry. Using his technical expertise in neuroimaging and statistical methods, Dr. Welsh generates sophisticated data for translational studies of novel psychiatric treatments. He collaborates with many research colleagues and brings technical physics and rigorous analytical methods to many imaging studies, within the Department, across other departments and to national and international collaborations.

Dr. Welsh joined the Psychiatry faculty in 2016 and transitioned to an adjunct role in 2022. He has an interest in minority health disparities and social justice, and in addition to other funding in this area, has recently been awarded a grant through the University of Utah Office of the Vice President for Research to study COVID-19 related health disparities. Dr. Welsh’s developed computational pipelines and software tools are widely used in imaging research around the country. An imaging task that he optimized is now being used to collect data from 10,000 individuals across 21 US sites for the longitudinal Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (including HMHI’s Utah site). He also provides critical collaboration for statistical analyses of other large datasets, engaging methods that extend well beyond the analysis needs of neuroimaging data.

Finally, Dr. Welsh is deeply committed to mentorship and was recently awarded funding for a 5-year National Institutes of Health R25 course focused on providing high-level training in advanced statistical methods in the overlapping fields of neuroimaging and genetics. This project attracts trainees from many institutions, bringing national recognition to the University of Utah, the School of Medicine, HMHI, and the Psychiatry department.

Education History

Fellowship University of Michigan
 Postdoctoral Research Associate
Research Fellow University of Michigan
 Research Fellow
Postdoctoral Fellowship Johns Hopkins University
 Postdoctoral Fellow
Doctoral Training Johns Hopkins University
 PhD
Graduate Training Johns Hopkins University
 MA
Undergraduate George Mason University
 BA

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Kim JU, Bessette KL, Westlund-Schreiner M, Pocius S, Dillahunt AK, Frandsen S, Thomas L, Easter R, Skerrett K, Stange JP, Welsh RC, Langenecker SA, Koppelmans V (2022). Relations of gray matter volume to dimensional measures of cognition and affect in mood disorders. Cortex, 156, 57-70.
  2. Mejia AF, Koppelmans V, Jelsone-Swain L, Kalra S, Welsh RC (2022). Longitudinal surface-based spatial Bayesian GLM reveals complex trajectories of motor neurodegeneration in ALS. Neuroimage, 255, 119180.
  3. Warthen KG, Welsh RC, Sanford B, Koppelmans V, Burmeister M, Mickey BJ (2021). Neuropeptide Y Variation Is Associated With Altered Static and Dynamic Functional Connectivity of the Salience Network. Front Syst Neurosci, 15, 629488.
  4. Langenecker SA, Westlund Schreiner M, Thomas LR, Bessette KL, DelDonno SR, Jenkins LM, Easter RE, Stange JP, Pocius SL, Dillahunt A, Love TM, Phan KL, Koppelmans V, Paulus M, Lindquist MA, Caffo B, Mickey BJ, Welsh RC (2021). Using Network Parcels and Resting-State Networks to Estimate Correlates of Mood Disorder and Related Research Domain Criteria Constructs of Reward Responsiveness and Inhibitory Control. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging, 7, 76-84.
  5. Roberts H, Jacobs RH, Bessette KL, Crowell SE, Westlund-Schreiner M, Thomas L, Easter RE, Pocius SL, Dillahunt A, Frandsen S, Schubert B, Farstead B, Kerig P, Welsh RC, Jago D, Langenecker SA, Watkins ER (2021). Mechanisms of rumination change in adolescent depression (RuMeChange): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial of rumination-focused cognitive behavioural therapy to reduce ruminative habit and risk of depressive relapse in high-ruminating adolescents. BMC Psychiatry, 21(1), 206.
  6. Stange JP, Jenkins LM, Pocius S, Kreutzer K, Bessette KL, DelDonno SR, Kling LR, Bhaumik R, Welsh RC, Keilp JG, Phan KL, Langenecker SA (2019). Using resting-state intrinsic network connectivity to identify suicide risk in mood disorders. Psychol Med, 50(14), 2324-2334.
  7. Bessette KL, Jacobs RH, Heleniak C, Peters AT, Welsh RC, Watkins ER, Langenecker SA (2020). Malleability of rumination: An exploratory model of CBT-based plasticity and long-term reduced risk for depressive relapse among youth from a pilot randomized clinical trial. PLoS One, 15(6), e0233539.
  8. Bharti K, Khan M, Beaulieu C, Graham SJ, Briemberg H, Frayne R, Genge A, Korngut L, Zinman L, Kalra S, Canadian ALS Neuroimaging Consortium (2020). Involvement of the dentate nucleus in the pathophysiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A multi-center and multi-modal neuroimaging study. Neuroimage Clin, 28, 102385.
  9. Peters AT, Jenkins LM, Stange JP, Bessette KL, Skerrett KA, Kling LR, Welsh RC, Milad MR, Phan KL, Langenecker SA (2019). Pre-scan cortisol is differentially associated with enhanced connectivity to the cognitive control network in young adults with a history of depression. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 104, 219-227.
  10. Goetschius LG, Hein TC, Mattson WI, Lopez-Duran N, Dotterer HL, Welsh RC, Mitchell C, Hyde LW, Monk CS (2019). Amygdala-prefrontal cortex white matter tracts are widespread, variable and implicated in amygdala modulation in adolescents. Neuroimage, 191, 278-291.
  11. Warthen KG, Sanford B, Walker K, Jones KG, Angstadt M, Sripada C, Goldman D, Zubieta JK, Welsh RC, Burmeister M, Mickey BJ (2018). Neuropeptide Y and representation of salience in human nucleus accumbens. Neuropsychopharmacology, 44(3), 495-502.
  12. Burkhouse KL, Stange JP, Jacobs RH, Bhaumik R, Bessette KL, Peters AT, Crane NA, Kreutzer KA, Fitzgerald K, Monk CS, Welsh RC, Phan KL, Langenecker SA (2018). Developmental changes in resting-state functional networks among individuals with and without internalizing psychopathologies. Depress Anxiety, 36(2), 141-152.
  13. Hein TC, Mattson WI, Dotterer HL, Mitchell C, Lopez-Duran N, Thomason ME, Peltier SJ, Welsh RC, Hyde LW, Monk CS (2018). Amygdala habituation and uncinate fasciculus connectivity in adolescence: A multi-modal approach. Neuroimage, 183, 617-626.
  14. Quinn ME, Stange JP, Jenkins LM, Corwin S, DelDonno SR, Bessette KL, Welsh RC, Langenecker SA (2017). Cognitive control and network disruption in remitted depression: a correlate of childhood adversity. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci, 13(10), 1081-1090.
  15. Taylor SF, Ho SS, Abagis T, Angstadt M, Maixner DF, Welsh RC, Hernandez-Garcia L (2018). Changes in brain connectivity during a sham-controlled, transcranial magnetic stimulation trial for depression. J Affect Disord, 232, 143-151.
  16. Chang SE, Angstadt M, Chow HM, Etchell AC, Garnett EO, Choo AL, Kessler D, Welsh RC, Sripada C (2017). Anomalous network architecture of the resting brain in children who stutter. J Fluency Disord, 55, 46-67.
  17. Jenkins LM, Stange JP, Barba A, DelDonno SR, Kling LR, Briceo EM, Weisenbach SL, Phan KL, Shankman SA, Welsh RC, Langenecker SA (2017). Integrated cross-network connectivity of amygdala, insula, and subgenual cingulate associated with facial emotion perception in healthy controls and remitted major depressive disorder. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci, 17(6), 1242-1254.
  18. Hardee JE, Cope LM, Munier EC, Welsh RC, Zucker RA, Heitzeg MM (2016). Sex differences in the development of emotion circuitry in adolescents at risk for substance abuse: a longitudinal fMRI study. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci, 12(6), 965-975.

Patent

  1. Welsh RC (2006). A Diffusion Tensor Phantom.
  2. Rosen MS, Swanson SD, Coulter KP, Welsh RC, Chupp TE (2000). Polarized Gas Delivery System/Method. U.S. Patent No. 6085743. Washington, D.C.:U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.