Quick glance at my CV and you’ll notice my work is a bit wandering** from small scale neural circuits of anxiety to national trends of traumatic injury. Still, there is one core theme throughout – identifying risk and resilience factors related to trauma outcomes – a core mission of my amazing research partners at the Milwaukee Trauma Outcomes Project.
My work has evaluated biological, neural, behavioral, and socioenvironmental domains to uncover the complex influences underlying differential mental health trajectories post-trauma. I regularly use cutting-edge statistical and data science applications with large-scale datasets from consortiums and databases to further understand the complex dynamics of post-trauma outcomes. For example, my dissertation entitled “Data-driven approach to dynamic resting state functional connectivity in posttraumatic stress disorder” utilized a large global cohort of trauma survivors to understand how brain network connectivity differs between those with PTSD and those without.
I’ve applied longitudinal analysis to understand traumatic injury trends in a national database, used forecasting procedures to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on local injury trends, and used geospatial analysis to understand the spatial patterns of injury within the Milwaukee community. I also co-lead the evaluation design and plan for community- and hospital-based violence interruption programs in Milwaukee.
My latest work utilizes local and state-wide trauma registry data to understand patterns of violence and traumatic injury to inform violence prevention efforts. Stay tuned for more on that.
Click here for a PDF version of my CV.
**Honestly, I’m just easily distracted by new methods/techniques/analytic approaches, and I tend to run with whatever research question accompanies the new approach. What can I say, I love data and I love to learn!
Selected Conference Posters
Publications
35. Piña, I. †, Timmer-Murillo, S., deRoon-Cassini, T., Larson, C., Tomas, C.W. (2024). Trajectories of Anhedonia Symptoms after Traumatic Injury. European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation.
34. Pahapill, P.A., Arocho-Quinones, E., Chen, G., Swearingen, C., Tomas, C. W., Koch, K., Nencka, A. (2024) Intermittent Vs constant neuropathic pain phenotypes in Persistent Spinal Pain Syndrome Type 2 patients. Journal of Pain Research.
33. Timmer-Murillo, S., Tomas, C.W., Geier, T., Melin, S.J.H., Brandolino, A., Schramm. A., Larson, C.L. , deRoon-Cassini, T. (in press). Mental health disparities following violent injury: A prospective comparison of survivors of violent and non-violent mechanisms of injury. Panamerican Journal of Trauma, Critical Care & Emergency Surgery
32. Torres, L., Geier, T.J. Tomas, C.W., Bird, C.M., Timmer-Murillo, S., Larson, C.L., deRoon-Cassini, T.A. (2024) Racial discrimination increases risk for non-remitting PTSD symptoms in traumatically injured Black Americans. Journal of Traumatic Stress.
31. Mohebbi, F. †, Forati, A., Torres, L., deRoon-Cassini, T., Harris, J., Tomas, C., Mantsch, J., Ghose, R. (in press) Exploring the association between structural racism and mental health through a novel framework using machine learning and geospatial analysis. JMIR Public Health and Surveillance.
30. Cronn, S., Somasundaram, K., Driesslein, K., Tomas, C., Pintar, F. (2024). Sex-Related Disparities in Vehicle Crash Injury and Hemodynamics. Frontiers in Public Health.
29. Brandolino, A.†, deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Biesboer, E.A.†, Tomas, C.W., Woolfolk, M.†, Wakinekona, N.†, Subramanian, M.†, Cheruvalath,H.†, Schroeder, M.E., Trevino, C.M.(2024) Improved Follow-up Care for Gun Violence Survivors in the Trauma Quality of Life Clinic. Trauma Surgery & Acute Care Open.
28. Bird, C.M., Webb, E.K., Cole, S.W., Tomas, C.W., Knight, J.M., Timmer-Murillo, S.C., Larson, C.L., deRoon-Cassini, Torres, L. (2023) Individual Experiences of Racial Discrimination and Adverse Gene Expression among Black Individuals in a Level 1 Trauma Center Sample. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 10.1016/j.bbi.2023.12.009
27. Bennett, M. M.†, Tomas, C.W., Fitzgerald, J. M. (2023) Relationship between cortisol and heart rate variability in response to stress: a data-driven approach. Stress and Health. 10.1002/smi.3327.
26. Dove, A.†, Kallies, K.†, Hargarten, S., Tomas, CW. (2023) A Milwaukee Syndemic: Penetrative Injury and the COVID-19 Pandemics. Wisconsin Medical Journal.
25. Tomas, C.W., Fumo, N., Kostelac, C.A., Flynn-O’Brien, K., Levas, M., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Hargarten, S.(2023) Trends in firearm production and firearm deaths in children. Preventive Medicine.10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107684
24. Davis, K.E. †, Tomas, C.W., Webb, E.K., Huggins, A.A., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Larson, C.L., Fitzgerald, J.M. (2023) Neural processes of emotional conflict monitoring and prediction of PTSD symptom clusters in traumatic injury survivors. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. 10.1037/tra0001586
23. Schramm, A. T., Kant, J.†, M., Tomas, C. W., Holliman, A. R., Kendrick, V. T., Khan, H., Cronn, S., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Kohlbeck, S.A. (2023) Trends in adult suicide rates in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin: 2002-2020. Wisconsin Medical Journal.
22. Timmer-Murillo, S., Melin, S.J.H.†, Tomas, C.W., Geier, T., Brandolino, A.†, Schramm, A., Larson, C.L., & deRoon-Cassini, T. (2023) Health disparities following firearm violence: A brief report. Annals of Internal Medicine. 10.7326/M23-0309
21. Webb, E.K., Timmer-Murillo, S.C., Huggins, A.A., Tomas, C.W., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Larson, C.L. (2023) Attributional negativity bias and acute stress disorder symptoms mediate the relationship between trauma history and future PTSD. Journal of Traumatic Stress. 10.1002/jts.22942
20. Suarez-Jimenez, B., Lazarov, A., Zhu, X., Zilcha-Mano, S., Kim, Yoojean, Marino, C.E., Rjabtsenkov, P., Bavdekar, S.Y., Pine, D.S., Bar-Haim, Y., Larson, C.L., Huggins, A.A., deRoon-Cassini, T., Tomas, C., Fitzgerald, J., Kennis, M., Varkevisser, T., Geuze, E., QUide, Y., El Hage, W., Wang, X., O’Leary, E.N., Cotton, A.S., Xie, H., Shih, C., Disner, S.G., Davenport, N.D., Sponheim, S.R., Koch, S.B.J., Frijling, J.L., Nawijn, L., van Zuiden, M., Olff, M., Veltman, D.J., Gordon, E.M., May, G., Nelson, S.M., Jia-Richards, M., Neria, Y., Morey, R.A. (2023). Intrusive traumatic re-experiencing domain: Functional connectivity feature classification by the ENIGMA PTSD Consortium. Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science. 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2023.05.006
19. Tomas, C.W., Kallies, K.J.†, Cronn, S.E., Kostelac, C.A., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Cassidy, L.D. (2023) Mechanisms of traumatic injury by race and ethnicity: an 8-year review of temporal trends from the National Trauma Data Bank. Injury Prevention. 10.1136/ip-2022-044817.
18. Tomas, C.W., Flynn-O’Brien, K.T., Harris, J., Moore, R., Kostelac, C., Cassidy, L.D., deRoon-Cassini, T.A. (2023) The increase in traumatic injury burden during COVID-19 was disproportionately shouldered by racial and ethnic minority patients: an urban case study. Trauma. 10.1177/14604086231165127
17. Gonzalez-Van Wart, A. E.†, Pina, I.G.†, Melin, S.†, Webb, E.K., Larson, C.L., Tomas, C.W. (2022) Helping self & helping others: Motivation & benefits to participation in trauma-related research. Trauma Psychology News, 17(3), 34-38. https://traumapyschnews.com
16. Stevens, S.K.†, Timmer-Murillo, S., Tomas, C.W., Boals, A., Larson, C.L., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Larsen, S.E. (2022). Event Centrality and Posttraumatic Stress After Traumatic Injury: A Longitudinal Investigation. Journal of Traumatic Stress. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jts.22877.
15. Tomas, C.W., Fitzgerald, J.M., Bergner, C., Hillard, C.J., Larson, C.L., deRoon-Cassini, T.A. (2022). Machine learning prediction of PTSD trajectories following traumatic injury: identification and verification in two independent samples. Journal of Traumatic Stress. 10.1002/jts.22868.
14. Tomas, C.W., Webb, E.K., Bennett, K.P., Huggins, A.A., Fitzgerald, J.M., Miskovich, T.A., Krukowski, J., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Larson, C.L. (2022). Neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage and the neurobiology of uncertainty in traumatically injured adults. Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsgos.2022.02.006
13. Webb, E.K.*, Ward, R.T.*, Mathew, A.S., Price, M., Weis, C.N., Trevino, C.M., Larson, C.L.**, & deRoon-Cassini-T.A.**. (2022). Role of pain and socioenvironmental factors on PTSD symptoms in traumatically injured adults: A one-year prospective study. Journal of Traumatic Stress. 10.1002/jts.22815
12. Webb, E.K., Bird, C.M., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Weis, C.N., Huggins, A., Fitzgerald, J., Miskovich, T., Bennett, K., Krukowski, J., Torres, L., Larson, C.L. (2022). Racial discrimination is associated with modified functional connectivity of salience network nodes in traumatically injured adults. JAMA Network Open. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.44759
11. Weis, C. N., Huggins, A. A., Miskovich, T. A., Fitzgerald, J. M., Bennett, K. P., Krukowski, J. L., Webb, E. K., deRoon-Cassini, T. A., Larson, C. L. (2021). Acute white matter integrity post-trauma and prospective PTSD symptoms. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2021.742198
10. Fitzgerald, J.M.*, Webb, E.K.*, Weis, C.N., Huggins, A.A., Bennett, K.P., Miskovich, T.A., Krukowski, J.L., deRoon-Cassini, T.A.**, Larson, C.L.** (2021). Hippocampal Resting-State Functional Connectivity Forecasts Individual PTSD Symptoms: A Data-Driven Approach. Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsc.2021.08.007
9. Webb, E.K.*, Weis, C.*, Bennett, K., Huggins, A., Parisi, E., Hanson, J., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., & Larson, C. (2021) Neural impact of neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage in traumatically injured adults. Neurobiology of Stress. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ynstr.2021.100385
8. Weis, C.N., Webb, E.K., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., Larson, C.L. (2021) Emotion Dysregulation Following Trauma: Shared Neurocircuitry of Traumatic Brain Injury and Trauma-Related Psychiatric Disorders. Invited review for TBI special issue at Biological Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2021.07.023
7. Weis, C. N., Bennett, K. P., Huggins, A. A., Parisi, E. A., Gorka, S. A., Larson, C. L. (2021) A high-resolution 7-Tesla MRI study of the periaqueductal grey—resting state functional connectivity and task activation under uncertain threat. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsab085
6. Huggins, A. A., Weis, C. N., Parisi, E. A., Bennett, K.P., Miskovic, V. & Larson, C. L. (2021). Neural substrates of human fear generalization: A 7T-fMRI investigation. Neuroimage. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118308
5. Weis, C.N.*, Webb, E.K.*, Huggins, A. A., Kallenbach, M., Miskovich, T. A., Fitzgerald, J. M., Bennett, K. P., Krukowski, J. L., deRoon-Cassini, T.**, Larson, C.L.** (2021) Stability of hippocampal subfield volumes after trauma and relationship to development of PTSD symptoms. Neuroimage. 236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118076
4. Weis, C. N., Webb, E.K., Damiano, S., Larson, C. L., deRoon-Cassini, T.A. (2021) Scoring the Life Events Checklist: comparison of three scoring methods. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001049
3. Webb, E.K., Weis, C., Huggins, A., Parisi, E., Bennett, K., Miskovich, T, Krukowski, J., deRoon-Cassini, T.A., & Larson, C. (2021) Neighborhood disadvantage is associated with stable deficits in neurocognitive functioning. Health and Place. 67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2020.102493
2. Weis, C. N., Huggins, A. A., Bennett, K. P., Parisi, E. P., Larson, C. L. (2019). High Resolution Resting State Functional Connectivity of the Extended Amygdala. Brain Connectivity. 9(8). https://doi.org/10.1089/brain.2019.0688
1. Weis, C. N., Belleau, E. L., Pedersen, W. S., Miskovich, T. A., Larson, C. L. (2018). Structural Connectivity of the Posterior Cingulum is related to Reexperiencing Symptoms in PTSD. Chronic Stress. https://doi.org/10.1177/2470547018807134
(* co-first author, ** co-senior author, † student/trainee)
Carissa W Tomas, PhD 