Nathaniel Thom
- Assistant Professor -
- Wheaton College -
The early years
I grew up a block from where this picture was taken, in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, a small river-city in central Wisconsin. It was a great place to grow up. I spent much of my time playing sports of all kinds (but especially soccer and hockey) and hunting, fishing, and camping with my dad.
EDUCATION
B.S. - University of Wisconsin, Madison
M.S. & Ph.D. - University of Georgia
Post-doctoral Fellowship - Naval Health Research Center
My CV
Undergraduate Education
I began my formal training as a scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. By my sophomore year I worked as a research assistant in Dr. Paul Sondel's lab in the Comprehensive Cancer Center. I primarily supported the work of Alexander L. Rakhmilevich, MD, PhD, who was focused on gene-based vaccinations for melanoma. I am forever indebted to the scientists in the Sondel lab for fueling my curiosity and developing me as a young scientist.
The main focus of the lab was on cancer treatment, and I always wanted to know how to prevent cancer. This way of thinking, combined with my love of triathlon, eventually led me to pursue graduate training in exercise neuroscience to study the relationship between the brain, stress, and the immune system.
Graduate Training
After a year and a half off after undergrad, I headed south to the University of Georgia to study with Dr. Rod Dishman in the Exercise Science Department. Dr. Dishman had done some work in animals on the effects of exercise on the immune system so I was excited to continue my studies of the immune system. Unfortunately, we could not secure funding to continue this line of research, so my attention shifted towards how exercise might prevent psychopathology. I studied the effects of chronic aerobic exercise on brain function and behavior for my master's thesis in Dr. Phil Holmes' lab and then began a collaboration with Dr. Brett Clementz's Cognitive Psychology lab during my doctorate. I was fortunate to win a Neuroimaging Fellowship in the Bioimaging Research Center at UGA to support my studies of how exercise alters emotion processing in the brain.
Postdoctoral Training
In 2009, with my wife pregnant, we moved to sunny Southern California so I could start a post-doc in the Warfighter Performance Department at the Naval Health Research Center. Over the next 4 years I would have the honor of serving those who serve our country by studying ways to enhance resilience.