Tom obtained his B.Sc. degree in Biology from the University of Hamburg and and M.Sc. degree in Neuroscience from the University of Bonn. In 2023, Tom completed his doctoral dissertation at the University of Bern, working with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate memory and forgetting in healthy humans. In a postdoc from 2023 to 2025 in the same lab, he continued his work on this project, and received training in magnetic resonance spectroscopy. 

At UZH, Tom is involved in two projects: For the first project, Tom is analysing fMRI data of a transdiagnostic, randomised controlled trial investigating the effects of the antibiotic minocycline on the reconsolidation of intrusive memories in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder and cocaine use disorder. In a second project, Tom is currently involved in research about the effects of the fire in Crans-Montana on January 1st on the young Swiss population. The focus lies on the effects of social exchange, both in person as well through social media, on memories of the event and general wellbeing. 

Publications 

Willems, T., Kühlwein, T., Voigt, M., Kurschilgen, M., & J Stekhoven, D. (2026). Insights from the SwissRN computational reproducibility hackathon 2025 [version 1; awaiting peer review]. F1000Research, 15(692). doi:10.12688/f1000research.180013.1

Willems, T., Zervas, K., Brogli, L., Rabe, F., Federspiel, A., & Henke, K. (2026). Neural traces of forgotten memories persist in humans and are behaviorally relevant. doi:10.7554/elife.109530.1

Gädeke, M., Willems, T., Ahmed, O. S., Weber, B., Hurlemann, R., & Schultz, J. (2025). Contributions of insula and su- perior temporal sulcus to interpersonal guilt and responsibility in social decisions. eLife. doi:10.7554/elife.105391.1

Willems, T., & Henke, K. (2021). Imaging human engrams using 7 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging. Hippocampus, 31(12), 1257–1270. doi:10.1002/hipo.23391

Schultz, J., Willems, T., Gädeke, M., Chakkour, G., Franke, A., Weber, B., & Hurlemann, R. (2019). A human subcortical network underlying social avoidance revealed by risky economic choices. eLife, 8, e45249. doi:10.7554/eLife.45249