William Thomas (Tom) Dixon, PhD, an engineer and physicist and a leader in the field of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, joined the Emory faculty in 1986 to lead the Frederic Philips Center for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. In 2000, he moved to the General Electric Global Research Center in Niskayuna, New York, and returned to Emory University in 2012 to complete his career.
Dr. Dixon dedicated his career to applying knowledge of magnetic resonance to significant, unsolved medical problems. He developed techniques to image flowing blood and to separate diffusion and perfusion in MR images. He also developed new pulse sequences to enhance the utility of MR contrast agents. He developed a method to create images that show water only, fat only, and the difference between water and fat intensity: see Dixon, W. T. (1984). “Simple proton spectroscopic imaging,” Radiology 153, 189-194. This invention, now known as the “Dixon Method” is still very widely used in radiology. As of August 2022, the paper had been cited more than 2,700 times as others have developed numerous offshoots of the original pulse sequence.
Dr. Dixon was elected a Fellow of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine in 2007 and received the Gold Medal from this society in 2013. He was a co-author on 11 patents and author, or co-author of 50 research publications.
Dr. Dixon received his PhD from the University of California at San Diego. He then trained as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Jacob Schaefer III, where he invented a method of reducing the complexity of the spectra and published two solo papers on spinning-sideband-free NMR spectra. Tom was hired by the Radiology Department of Washington University Medical School to start their research program in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in 1983.
Dr. Dixon’s colleagues at Emory remember him for his creative discussions, humility despite his intellect, generosity of spirit, and dry humor. Even after retirement, he was regularly in his office and could be found discussing experiments with colleagues, attending seminars, and writing new pulse sequences late into the night.