Dr Tom Farrow

BSc (Hons), PhD

Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Population Health

Senior Lecturer in Neuroimaging

Honorary NHS Clinical Scientist

Tom Farrow Staff
Profile picture of Tom Farrow Staff
t.f.farrow@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 271 3128

Full contact details

Dr Tom Farrow
Neuroscience, School of Medicine and Population Health
Room N129, N-Floor
Royal Hallamshire Hospital
Glossop Road
Sheffield
S10 2JF
Profile

Following an undergraduate degree (1991-1995, BSc.[Hons.] Neuroscience; 2:i) and PhD (1995-1998, “Structural MRI study on the aetiology and cognitive effects of hippocampal sclerosis”, supervised by Dr Richard Grünewald, and Professor Andrew Mayes) at the University of Sheffield, I took up a post-doctoral position at the Neuroscience and Psychiatry Unit, University of Manchester.

In 1999, I returned to the University of Sheffield to help found and develop the Sheffield Cognition and Neuroimaging Laboratory (SCANLab) within Academic Clinical Psychiatry.

In 2001 I was lead author on the first fMRI study to be conducted in Sheffield and began a tenured lectureship position. In 2002 I was awarded a 12-month Royal Society Overseas Fellowship, which was hosted by the Brain Dynamics Centre, University of Sydney, Australia.

Returning to SCANLab in 2003, I continued to conduct structural- and functional MRI-based research and attract grant-funding, most notably as co-investigator on a multi-centre Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Large Grant (2008-2013; “Emotion regulation of others and self (EROS): A collaborative research network”; £2.7M). I was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2009.

In 2013 I moved to Academic Clinical Neurology (in the former Department of Neuroscience), to establish new collaborations and apply my research and methodological expertise to a range of new disorders and cognitive questions.

In 2016 I appointed as Associate Director of Student Affairs (previously known as Undergraduate Dean) for the MBChB course. In 2017, I was appointed as Director of first-year Medicine (MBChB, Phase 1) and in 2018 as Director of Undergraduate Learning and Teaching for the former Department of Neuroscience. In 2018 I was appointed as Senior University Teacher.

I continue to supervise MSc and PhD research students, but now devote most of my time to Medical education.

Research interests

My methodological research interests are structural (voxel-based morphometry [VBM]) and functional MR brain imaging, electrophysiological recording (skin conductance response [SCR]) and neuromodulation (transcranial direct current stimulation [tDCS]).

I have applied these methodologies in psychiatric (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]) and neurologic (Alzheimer’s Disease, tinnitus, epilepsy, non-epileptic attack disorder [NEAD]) patients and healthy subjects.

The aspects of cognition in which I am interested include empathy, theory of mind, social cognition, deception, emotional salience, emotion regulation and ‘resting-state’.

Current projects

  • Do personal beliefs impact on the ego-depletion effect (via PhD student, Ahmad Assinnari)
  • Using EEG resting state parameters as biomarkers of cognitive decline in ageing
  • Modulation of cognitive function via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (tVNS)
Publications

Books

  • Farrow TFD & Woodruff PWR (2007) Empathy in Mental Illness. Cambridge University Press. RIS download Bibtex download

Journal articles

Chapters

  • Farrow TF (2007) Neuroimaging of empathy In Farrow TFD & Woodruff PWR (Ed.), Empathy in Mental Illness (pp. 201-216). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Lee K-H (2007) Empathy deficits in schizophrenia, Empathy in Mental Illness (pp. 17-32). Cambridge University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Woodruff PWR (2007) Empathy in Mental Illness Foreword, EMPATHY IN MENTAL ILLNESS (pp. IX-XXII). RIS download Bibtex download
  • Farrow TF, Spence SA, Hunter MD, Green RD, Leung DH, Hughes CJ & Ganesan V (2006) A cognitive neurobiological account of deception: Evidence from functional neuroimaging In Goodenough OR & Zeki S (Ed.), Law and the Brain (pp. 169-184). Oxford University Press RIS download Bibtex download
  • Farrow TF & Woodruff PWR (2005) Neuroimaging of Forgivability In Worthington EL (Ed.), Handbook of Forgiveness (pp. 259-272). Routledge RIS download Bibtex download
  • Farrow TF (2003) Lying as an executive function. In Halligan PW, Bass CM & Oakley DA (Ed.), Malingering and Illness Deception Oxford University Press RIS download Bibtex download

Conference proceedings papers

  • Blackburn D, Sarrigiannis P, Yifan Z, De Marco M, Bell S, Venneri A, Billings S, Farrow T, Fei H, Unwin Z , Blythe M et al (2017) A novel quantitative EEG approach to distiguish Alzheimer’s disease from fronto tempura dementia and healthy controls. Journal of the Neurological Sciences, Vol. 381 (pp 319-319) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Blackburn D, Yifan Z, Bell S, Marco MD, He F, Wilkinson I, Farrow T, Venneri A & Sarrigiannis P (2016) QEEG CAN DISTINGUISH PATIENTS WITH AD AND VOLUNTEERS. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, Vol. 87(12) (pp e1.192-e1) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Blackburn DJ, Zhou Y, Bell S, De Marco M, Wilkinson I, He F, Wei HL, Farrow T, Venneri A & Sarrigiannis P (2016) O4-09-02: Quantitative Eeg Can Identify Difference Between Patients with Alzheimer's Disease and Healthy Volunteers on an Individual Level. Alzheimer's & Dementia, Vol. 12 (pp P353-P354) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Lankappa ST, Kaylor-Hughes CJ, Hope-Urwin A, Fung RJ, Farrow TF, Woodhead J, Brook ML, Wilkinson ID & Spence SA (2009) GREY MATTER VOLUME CORRELATES OF ACTIVITIES OF DAILY LIVING IN SCHIZOPHRENIA. SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN, Vol. 35 (pp 219-219) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Tsoi DTY, Lee KH, Pluck G, Farrow TF, Wilkinson ID & Woodruff PW (2009) NEURAL BASIS OF HUMOUR APPRECIATION AND UNDERSTANDING OTHERS' INTENTIONS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA: AN FMRI STUDY. SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN, Vol. 35 (pp 167-167) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Hunter M, Farrow TF, Hogan M, Khan MQ, Linnington H, Mitchell J, Mir N, Wilkinson ID & Woodruff PW (2009) AUDITORY CORTICAL VOLUME AND LOUDNESS OF AUDITORY HALLUCINATIONS IN SCHIZOPHRENIA. SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN, Vol. 35 (pp 216-216) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Watts GR, Hunter MD, Douglas M, Pheasant RJ, Farrow TFD, Wilkinson ID, Kang J, Horoshenkov K & Woodruff PW (2009) The use of fMRI techniques to investigate the perception of tranquillity. 38th International Congress and Exposition on Noise Control Engineering 2009, INTER-NOISE 2009, Vol. 1 (pp 699-706) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Spence SA, Hunter MD, Wilkinson ID & Farrow TF (2007) A neuroanatomical basis for the frequency of discrete spontaneous activities in people with schizophrenia. SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN, Vol. 33(2) (pp 355-356) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Lankappa ST, Kaylor-Hughes CJ, Fung RJ, Farrow TF, Wilkinson ID & Spence SA (2007) Impaired activities of daily living in schizophrenia: Correlation with reduced cortical grey matter volume. SCHIZOPHRENIA BULLETIN, Vol. 33(2) (pp 341-341) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Farrow TFD, Whitford TJ, Williams LM, Gomes L & Harris AWF (2006) Structural MRI evidence of differences between first episode bipolar disorder and first episode schizophrenia. BIPOLAR DISORDERS, Vol. 8 (pp 18-18) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Ganesan V, Hunter MD, Farrow TFD, Green R, Leung D, Hughes C & Spence SA (2004) The functional anatomy of vocal lying. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY, Vol. 55 (pp 60S-60S) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Egleston PN, Lee KH, Brown WH, Green RDJ, Farrow TFD, Hunter MD, Parks RW, Spence SA & Woodruff PWR (2004) Treatment induced brain changes during forgiveness tasks in patients with schizophrenia. SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH, Vol. 67(1) (pp 109-109) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Brown WH, Lee KH, Egleston PN, Green RD, Farrow TF, Hunter MD, Parks RW, Spence SA & Woodruff PWR (2004) Treatment associated brain changes during empathy tasks in patients with schizophrenia. SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH, Vol. 67(1) (pp 108-109) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Spence S, Hunter M, Farrow T, Wilkinson I & Woodruff P (2003) Modulation of connectivity in the executive and sensorimotor systems prior to spontaneous willed action. Schizophrenia Research, Vol. 60(1) (pp 233-234) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Parks RW, Lee K, Hunter MD, Green RD, Pegg EJ, Farrow T, Spence SA & Woodruff PW (2003) Complex semantic verbal fluency correlates with FMRI bold activation during empathy tasks in schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, Vol. 60(1) (pp 230-231) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Green RD, Lee K, Farrow T, Hunter MD, Parks RW, Spence SA & Woodruff PW (2003) The functional anatomy of forgiveness in patients with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, Vol. 60(1) (pp 218-218) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Wignall EL, Lee K, Green R, Farrow T, Hunter M, Wilkinson I, Parks R, Spence S & Woodruff P (2003) Regional grey matter reduction in people with schizophrenia demonstrated by voxel-based morphometry. Schizophrenia Research, Vol. 60(1) (pp 211-211) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Lee K, Green R, Farrow T, Hunter M, Parks R, Spence S & Woodruff P (2003) The functional anatomy of empathy in patients with schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Research, Vol. 60(1) (pp 226-227) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Hunter MD, Griffiths TD, Farrow TFD, Zheng Y, Wilkinson ID, Woods W, Spence SA & Woodruff PWR (2002) Neural representation of voices "outside the head". J NEUROL NEUROSUR PS, Vol. 72(6) (pp 824-824) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Hunter MD, Smith JK, Taylor N, Woods W, Spence SA, Griffiths TD & Woodruff PWR (2002) A laterality effect in the perception of simulated auditory verbal hallucinations in external space. SCHIZOPHRENIA RESEARCH, Vol. 53(3) (pp 91-91) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Hunter MD, Griffiths TD, Farrow TFD, Zheng Y, Wilkinson ID, Woods W, Spence SA & Woodruff PWR (2002) The neural representation of hallucination-like speech in external auditory space. SCHIZOPHR RES, Vol. 53(3) (pp 22-23) RIS download Bibtex download
  • Hunter MD, Farrow TFD, Zheng Y, Wilkinson ID, Woods W, Spence SA, Griffiths TD & Woodruff PWR (2002) A laterality effect in brain response to simulated auditory verbal hallucinations in external space. SCHIZOPHR RES, Vol. 53(3) (pp 91-91) RIS download Bibtex download
Teaching activities
  • Director of Studies, MBChB Phase 1
  • Head of Neuroscience, MBChB Phase 1
  • MBChB, Associate Director of Student Affairs
  • Department of Neuroscience, Director of Undergraduate Learning and Teaching
  • Module lead for ‘Neuroimaging, Neurophysiology & Neuropsychiatry’ (MED624)
  • Module lead for ‘Neuroanatomy’ (practical human brain dissection) courses, MBChB Phase 1 and various Masters courses (MED661)
  • ILA facilitator, MBChB Phase 1
  • Lecturer, MRCPsych course
  • Have supervised 7 PhD, 9 BMedSci, 17 MSc,1 DClinPsy and numerous undergraduate medical student research projects.
Professional activities and memberships
  • Member, Department of Neuroscience, Executive Committee
  • Honorary NHS Clinical Scientist, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
  • Editorial board member, The Open Neuroimaging Journal, Bentham Science, USA.
  • Member, Association for Psychological Science (APA)
  • Member, Organization for Human Brain Mapping (OHBM)
  • Member, Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE)