Chisondi S. Warioba, PhD

Bio

Chisondi S. Warioba, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Scholar in the Division of Pain Medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine, working in the Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine with Dr. Sean Mackey and Dr. Kenneth Weber. His research develops machine learning and deep learning approaches for high-dimensional medical data, with an emphasis on cross-species translational neuroscience, resting-state fMRI, and multimodal MRI analysis (NODDI, DKI, and advanced diffusion techniques) to identify brain biomarkers of chronic pain.

He earned his PhD in Medical Physics from the University of Chicago, where his dissertation focused on cross-species mapping of functional connectivity alterations and therapeutic responses in hyperacute ischemic stroke. He completed a triple-major bachelor's degree in Chemistry, Physics, and Biology at Westmont College.

Dr. Warioba is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and was awarded an Academic Visitor position at the University of Oxford's Department of Clinical Neurosciences. He received the Carl B. Allendoerfer Award from the Mathematical Association of America for expository excellence. He is committed to mentorship and community engagement, including STEM outreach for underrepresented students and neuroscience public education.

Honors & Awards

• BSD Dissertation Award Nominee, University of Chicago (2026)
• GPMP Program Award, University of Chicago (2026)
• T32 Postdoctoral Training Grant, NIH / Stanford University (2025-Present)
• National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, National Science Foundation (2023-2025)
• Academic Visitor Award, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, UK (2023-2024)
• AHA Predoctoral Fellowship (Declined — accepted NSF Graduate Research Fellowship), American Heart Association (2023)
• Carl B. Allendoerfer Award, Mathematical Association of America (2022)
• Dave Dolan Award (leadership in responding to social and spiritual needs of the college), Westmont College (2021)
• Initiative for Maximizing Student Development Fellowship, University of Chicago (2021)
• Major Honors (A+) in Chemistry, Westmont College (2021)
• NSF Quantum Foundry Fellowship, UC Santa Barbara (2020)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

• Member, Society for Neuroscience (SfN) (2025 - Present)
• Member, Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM) (2023 - Present)
• Reviewer, NeuroImage; Human Brain Mapping; Journal of Neuroscience Methods (2023 - Present)
• Member, Program Committee, Medical Physics Graduate Student Symposium (2023 - 2023)
• Member, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) (2022 - Present)
• Member, Mathematical Association of America (MAA) (2021 - Present)

Professional Education

• Doctor of Philosophy, University of Chicago (2025)
• PhD, University of Chicago, Medical Physics (2025)
• B.S. / B.A. (Triple Major), Westmont College, Chemistry (B.S.), Physics (B.A.), Biology (B.A.) (2021)

Stanford Advisors

• Sean Mackey, Postdoctoral Faculty Sponsor

Community and International Work

• Racial Justice and Reconciliation Discussion Panels, Westmont College, Santa Barbara, CA

  Topic

  Racial justice, reconciliation, and community dialogue (2019-2021)

  Populations Served

  Westmont College community

  Location

  California

  Ongoing Project

  No

  Opportunities for Student Involvement

  No

• STEM Mentorship for Underrepresented Minorities

  Topic

  STEM mentorship and pipeline development

  Populations Served

  Underrepresented minority students in STEM

  Location

  US

  Ongoing Project

  Yes

  Opportunities for Student Involvement

  Yes

• Brain Awareness Week School Outreach

  Topic

  Neuroscience education and public outreach

  Populations Served

  Local K-12 schools

  Location

  Bay Area

  Ongoing Project

  Yes

  Opportunities for Student Involvement

  Yes