Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
I am a neurologist and cognitive neuroscientist based at the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health in Melbourne, Australia. I am currently appointed as an Associate Professor in Cognitive Neuroscience, and lead the Monash Cognitive Neurology Laboratory. I consult at cognitive clinics at St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne and Alfred Health.
I completed both my undergraduate research training (BMedSc) and medical training (MB,BS) with Honours at Monash University in 2002. I then embarked on my doctoral research with Jason Mattingley at the University of Melbourne, and in collaboration with Nancy Kanwisher at MIT. After being awarded my PhD in 2007, I returned to speciality training in Neurology via St. Vincent's Hospital and The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, and was admitted to Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (FRACP) as a consultant neurologist in 2013. That year, I was awarded an NH&MRC Neil Hamilton Fairley Early Career Fellowship, which I took to Oxford to work with Masud Husain. I returned to Australia in 2015 to the ARC Centre of Excellence for Cognition and its Disorders in Sydney, before establishing my lab at Monash.
Research Interests
Cognitive impairments affect individuals across a broad range of neurological disease. The Cognitive Neurology Laboratory at Monash University seeks to understand the neurobiology of learning, memory and decision-making in healthy individuals, and how these processes are impacted by neurological illness.
Our research bridges the domains of basic cognitive neuroscience and clinical cognitive neurology, with the ultimate goal of developing new paradigms that may be translated into the clinical setting to guide the diagnosis and management of cognitive symptoms.
To accomplish this, we combine insights from psychology, economics and neuroscience, and apply cross-disciplinary methodologies including psychophysics, computational modelling, electroencephalography, structural and functional brain imaging, pharmacological intervention, and brain lesion studies.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Education/Academic qualification
Neuroscience, PhD, University of Melbourne
Award Date: 20 Dec 2007
Medicine, BMedSc (Hons), Monash University
Award Date: 5 Dec 2002
Medicine, MBBS (Hons), Monash University
Award Date: 5 Dec 2002
External positions
Board Director & Chair, Research ('Cure') Committee, Cure for MND Foundation Inc
2018 → …
Senior Staff Specialist, Alfred Hospital
2017 → …
Senior Staff Specialist, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne
2016 → …
Research area keywords
- Decision-making
- Motivation
- Reward
- Dopamine
- Parkinson's disease
- Effort
- Fatigue
- Perception
Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
-
The neurobiology of curiosity
Chong, T. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI))
1/01/23 → 31/12/26
Project: Research
-
Neuropharmacology of decision-making: causal brain network modelling across species
Bellgrove, M. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Thiele, A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Chong, T. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Coxon, J. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Deco, G. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Lyra Gollo, L. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Arnatkeviciute, A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), O’Connell, R. G. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Fornito, A. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Breakspear, M. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Davey, C. G. (Associate Investigator (AI)) & Razi, A. (Associate Investigator (AI))
National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (Australia)
1/01/22 → 31/12/26
Project: Research
-
Clinical trial to determine the effects of statins on cognition: STAREE-Mind
Ryan, J. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Zoungas, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Law, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Anderson, C. S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Chong, T. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Heritier, S. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Harding, I. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Naismith, S. L. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Liew, D. (Chief Investigator (CI)) & O'Sullivan, M. J. (Chief Investigator (CI))
1/07/21 → 30/06/26
Project: Research
-
Reducing uncertainty in perceptual decision making by training awareness of neurocognitive states
Rangelov, D. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Mattingley, J. (Associate Investigator (AI)), McAnally, K. I. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Bellgrove, M. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Chong, T. (Associate Investigator (AI)) & Bode, S. (Associate Investigator (AI))
28/07/20 → …
Project: Research
-
Transcranial focused ultrasound neuromodulation system
Coxon, J. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Egan, G. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Bellgrove, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Rosa, M. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Fornito, A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Verdejo-Garcia, A. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Chong, T. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Alizadeh Mansouri, F. (Chief Investigator (CI)), Hendrikse, J. (Chief Investigator (CI)) & Biabani, M. (Chief Investigator (CI))
1/10/21 → 31/12/22
Project: Research
-
Association of Year-to-Year Lipid Variability With Risk of Cognitive Decline and Dementia in Community-Dwelling Older Adults
Zhou, Z., Moran, C., Murray, A. M., Zoungas, S., Magnussen, C., Chong, T. T. J., Shah, R. C., Sheets, K. M., Nelson, M., Zhu, C., Tonkin, A. M., Talic, S., Ernst, M. E., Orchard, S. G., Mcneil, J. J., Wolfe, R., Woods, R. L., Neumann, J. T., Qiu, P. & Ryan, J., 29 Jan 2025, In: Neurology. 104, 4, 16 p., e210247.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access1 Citation (Scopus) -
Cardiometabolic Trajectories Preceding Dementia in Community-Dwelling Older Individuals
Wu, Z., Cribb, L. G., Wolfe, R., Shah, R. C., Orchard, S. G., Owen, A. J., Woods, R. L., Vishwanath, S., Chong, T. T. J., Sheets, K. M., Murray, A. M. & Ryan, J. L., 7 Feb 2025, In: JAMA Network Open. 8, 2, 14 p., e2458591.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access1 Citation (Scopus) -
Changes in Loneliness, Social Isolation, and Social Support: A Gender-Disaggregated Analysis of Their Associations With Dementia and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults
Htun, H. L., Teshale, A. B., Sun, H., Ryan, J., Owen, A. J., Woods, R. L., Shah, R. C., Chong, T. T. J. & Freak-Poli, R., Mar 2025, In: International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. 40, 3, 12 p., e70065.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access1 Citation (Scopus) -
Gait speed, handgrip strength, and their combination, and risk of depression in later life: Evidence from a prospective study of community-dwelling older adults
Mengist, B., Lotfaliany, M., Pasco, J. A., Agustini, B., Berk, M., Williams, L. J., Forbes, M., Woods, R. L., Orchard, S. G., Ryan, J., McNeil, J. J., Owen, A. J., Beilin, L. J., Shah, R. C., Espinoza, S. E., Ganjali, S., Chong, T. T. J. & Mohebbi, M., 15 Jan 2025, In: Journal of Affective Disorders. 369, p. 218-226 9 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access4 Citations (Scopus) -
Social determinants of health and risk of dementia among older men and women: A 12-year cohort study in Australia
Htun, H. L., Teshale, A. B., Ryan, J., Owen, A. J., Chong, T. T. J., Orchard, S. G., Murray, A. M., Shah, R. C., Woods, R. L. & Freak-Poli, R., Mar 2025, In: Alzheimer's & Dementia. 21, 3, 15 p., e70065.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access
Activities
- 9 Non-HDR Supervisions
-
Amy Huynh (Psychology Honours)
Chong, T. (Supervisor)
2019Activity: Other Teaching Engagements and non-HDR Supervisions › Non-HDR Supervisions
-
Emily Babbage (Psychology Honours)
Chong, T. (Supervisor)
2019Activity: Other Teaching Engagements and non-HDR Supervisions › Non-HDR Supervisions
-
Veronica Mazur (Bachelor of Biomedical Science)
Chong, T. (Supervisor)
2019Activity: Other Teaching Engagements and non-HDR Supervisions › Non-HDR Supervisions
-
Wei Binh Chong (Masters of Biomedical Science)
Chong, T. (Supervisor)
2018Activity: Other Teaching Engagements and non-HDR Supervisions › Non-HDR Supervisions
-
Isabelle Stevenson (Psychology Honours)
Chong, T. (Supervisor)
2018Activity: Other Teaching Engagements and non-HDR Supervisions › Non-HDR Supervisions