Ariel Rokem

Ariel Rokem is an AI Scientist with the Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. He received his PhD in Neuroscience from the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley (2010) and completed postdoctoral training in computational neuroimaging at Stanford (2011-2015). Subsequently, he was a Senior Data Scientist at the University of Washington eScience Institute (2015-2020) and faculty with the University of Washington Department of Psychology (2020-2026), before joining CAMH.

Dr. Rokem’s work combines an interest in analysis of brain connectivity with technical development of brain imaging analysis tools inspired by developments in machine learning, computer vision, and AI. His research focuses on the brain's white matter, the long-range connections beneath the cortical surface, aiming to understand how these connections change across development, aging, and disease, and in response to learning or treatment.

Realizing the potential for AI to illuminate the links between brain structure and mental health requires development of new methods, of open-source software, of training paths, and of standards and best practices. Dr. Rokem’s work aims to address both technical and socio-technical challenges, ensuring that next-generation brain analysis methods are developed and deployed broadly, transparently, and ethically. Underpinning this work is a commitment to open, reproducible science. Dr. Rokem's group releases analysis tools that it develops as freely available software that is used by researchers worldwide. He is also an author of the book “Neuroimaging and Data Science: An Introduction”, which is freely available online.

Recent Publications

Kruper, J., Richie-Halford, A., Qiao, J., Gilmore, A., Chang, K., Grotheer, M., Roy, E., Caffarra, S., Gomez, T., Chou, S., Cieslak, M., Koudoro, S., Garyfallidis, E., Satterthwaite, T. D., Yeatman, J. D., and Rokem, A. A software ecosystem for brain tractometry processing, analysis, and insight. PLoS Comput. Biol. 2025; 21(8):e1013323. Available from: https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1013323

Kruper, J., Richie-Halford, A., Benson, N. C., Caffarra, S., Owen, J., Wu, Y., Egan, C., Lee, A. Y., Lee, C. S., Yeatman, J. D., Rokem, A., and UK Biobank Eye and Vision Consortium. Convolutional neural network-based classification of glaucoma using optic radiation tissue properties. Communications Medicine 2024, 4(1):72. Available from: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43856-024-00496-w.

Grotheer, M., Bloom, D., Kruper, J., Richie-Halford, A., Zika, S., Aguilera Gonzàlez, V. A., Yeatman, J. D., Grill-Spector, K., and Rokem, A. Human white matter myelinates faster in utero than ex utero. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 2023; 120:e2303491120. Available from: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2303491120

Halil Aziz Velioglu, Teresa Gomez, Juan A. Gallego, Todd Lencz, Anil K. Malhotra, Ariel Rokem*, Hengyi Cao* (2026). Microstructural Alterations of the Cerebellum-Ventral Tegmental Area Pathways in First-Episode Psychosis. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. Accepted. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451902226000947.

Luo, A. C., Meisler, S. L., Sydnor, V. J., Alexander-Bloch, A., Bagautdinova, J., Barch, D. M., Bassett, D. S., Davatzikos, C., Franco, A. R., Goldsmith, J., Gur, R. E., Gur, R. C., Hu, F., Jaskir, M., Kiar, G., Keller, A. S., Larsen, B., Mackey, A. P., Milham, M. P., Roalf, D. R., Shafiei, G., Shinohara, R. T., Somerville, L. H., Weinstein, S. M., Yeatman, J. D., Cieslak, M., Rokem, A, and Satterthwaite, T. D. Two axes of white matter development. 2025 Nature Communications 2026 17:1957. Available from: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-68714-8.

Hagen, M. P., Provins, C., MacNicol, E., Li, J., Gomez, T., Garcia, M., Seeley, S., Haitz Legarreta, J., Norgaard, M., Bissett, P. G., Poldrack, R. A., Rokem, A., and Esteban, O. Quality assessment and control of unprocessed anatomical, functional, and diffusion MRI of the human brain using MRIQC. Nature Protocols. Available from: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41596-026-01352-y

Zhou, DJ, Chang K, Jaskir, M, Davis, KD, Stein, JM, Sinha, N, Phillips, RE, Ferreira, M, Grabowski, TJ, Rokem, A. Free Water Elimination Tractometry Reveals Local and Remote White Matter Disruption in Diffuse Gliomas. 2025 Journal of Neurooncology Volume 176, article 115. Impact Factor: 3.1. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11060-025-05370-w.

Chang, K. H., Burke, L., LaPiana, N., Howlett, B., Hunt, D., Dezelar, M., Andre, J. B., Curl, P., Ralston, J. D., Rokem, A*, and MacDonald, CL*. Free water elimination tractometry for aging brains. 2025 Imaging Neuroscience 3: IMAG.a.991. Available from: https://direct.mit.edu/imag/article/doi/10.1162/IMAG.a.991/133658/Free-water-elimination-tractometry-for-aging. 

Honours and Awards

2024: Organization for Human Brain Mapping Education in Neuroimaging Award

2023: Neuro – Irv and Helga Cooper Foundation Open Science Prize (as a member of the Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) steering group)