Biography

Dr. Jeong is an MRI physicist and neuroimaging researcher. He received a B.S in Biomedical Engineering from Yonsei University, Korea, a M.S. in the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC),  Los Angeles, CA, and a Ph.D. in the USC Alfred E. Mann Department of Biomedical Engineering. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the USC Keck School of Medicine Radiology and Alfred E. Mann Institute for Biomedical Engineering.

His training and experience in MRI techniques place him uniquely to design and implement advanced research projects to benefit young patients with neurological disorders. He has always tried to use his abilities to help children afflicted with neurological diseases so that they can enjoy life and live it to the fullest. His research and clinical interest primarily include: functional and structural imaging biomarkers for the diagnosis of Epilepsy, Developmental Delay, Autisms, Sturge Weber Syndrome, and Borderline Personality Disorder. He has more than 80 peer-reviewed full papers, is the principal investigator of an R01 grant project funded by the National Institutes of Health to study an advanced diffusion MRI tractography methodology minimizing postoperative deficits in pediatric epilepsy surgery.  He is a Co-Investigator on four additional R01s to develop advanced multimodal imaging methodologies including MRI, PET and electrocorticography in order to accurately detect early onset of pediatric neurological disorders. 

Research and Clinical Interests

• Functional and structural neuroimaging techniques using diffusion tractography, functional MRI, PET and intracranial EEG in children with epilepsy, developmental delay, autisms, Sturge-Weber Syndrome, and borderline personality disorder. 

• Advanced brain connectome analyses using deep learning network techniques to quantify and detect brain abnormalities in children.

• Preoperative benefit and risk analysis methods to predict the likelihood of postoperative seizure outcomes and functional improvement using machine learning and deep learning network techniques.

• Preoperative computer-aided algorithms to detect epileptogenic zones using multi-modal MRI and simulate seizure propagations for virtual surgery. 

• High spatio-temporal dynamic tractography using augmented reality and metaverse technologies 

• Fast MRI techniques to investigate MRI markers for early diagnosis of late language emergence.

Grant Supports

• Title: Novel DWI Methods to Minimize Postoperative Deficits in Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery  (07/15/2021 - 06/30/2026)

     Role: Principal Investigator

     The major goal of this study is to utilize deep learning-based diffusion MRI techniques to optimize the surgical margin,  predict the      

         postoperative neurocognitive outcome, and determine the specific mechanism of postoperative brain reorganization in children  

         undergoing epilepsy surgery.

    Sponsor Name: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - NINDS 2R01NS089659

• Title: Functional brain mapping in pediatric neurosurgery  (PI: Eishi Asano, 04/15/2022 - 03/31/2027)

    Role: Co-Investigator

    The major goal of this project is to localize the language areas and to predict language outcomes after epilepsy surgery,  using invasive 

        monitoring.

    Sponsor Name: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - NINDS 2R01 NS064033

• Title: Longitudinal neuroimaging in Sturge-Weber Syndrome (PI: Csaba Juhasz, 03/01/2020 - 02/28/2025)

         Role: Co-Investigator

    The major goal of this project is to utilize advanced neuroimaging techniques as biomarkers of disease progression,       

         understand pathophysiology, and develop new approaches to improve neuro-cognitive outcome in children with      

         Sturge-Weber syndrome.

    Sponsor Name: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - NINDS 2R01NS041922

• Title: Probing role of tetrahydrobiopterin in cerebral palsy by using transgenic rabbits (PI: Sidhartha Tan, 12/15/2020 - 11/30/2025) 

Role: Co-Investigator

The goal of this project is to elucidate the role of tetrahydrobiopterin in perinatal brain injury in human mutations causing childhood movement disorders utilizing a strategy to decrease tetrahydrobiopterin levels with a knockout transgenic approach in the rabbit of sepiapterin reductase. 

Sponsor Name: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - NINDS 2R01NS117146 

• Title: Neuroprotection by nNOS inhibitors in perinatal hypoxia-ischemia (PI: Sidhartha Tan, 05/01/2020 -02/28/2025) 

Role: Co-Investigator

The major goal of this project is to investigate the systemic integration of MRI as a surrogate marker and high speed sorting into the unique animal model to probe the biochemical basis of specific neuronal injury at a critical time point. 

Sponsor Name: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - NINDS R01NS114972

• Title: Intraoperative localization of epileptic brain Regions under sevoflurane anesthesia  (PI: Ethan Firestone, 08/01/2022 - 07/31/2026) 

Role: Mentor 

The goal of this grant to investigate the effect of sevoflurane anesthesia on the localization of epiletic brain regions during intraoperative procedure.

Sponsor Name: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - NINDS  F30NS129239

• Title: Characterization and Modeling of Epileptic Spasm Propagation Dynamics  (PI:Nolan B O'Hara, 07/06/2020 - 06/30/2023) 

Role: Faculty Sponsor/Mentor 

The goal of this grant to image neural propagation of infantile spasm and use it for the prediction of postsurgical outcomes.

Sponsor Name: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke - NINDS  F30NS115279

Publications

Selected Publications (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/jeong-won.jeong.1/bibliography/public/) 

• Sakakura K, Sonoda M, Mitsuhashi T, Kuroda N, Firestone E, O'Hara N, Iwaki H, Lee MH, Jeong JW, Rothermel R, Luat AF, Asano E. Developmental organization of neural dynamics supporting auditory perception. Neuroimage. 2022 Sep;258:119342. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119342. Epub 2022 May 30. PubMed PMID: 35654375; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9354710.

• Jeong JW, Lee MH, Kuroda N, Sakakura K, OHara N, Juhasz C, Asano E. Multi-Scale Deep Learning of Clinically Acquired Multi-Modal MRI Improves the Localization of Seizure Onset Zone in Children With Drug-Resistant Epilepsy. IEEE J Biomed Health Inform. 2022 Aug 4;PP. doi: 10.1109/JBHI.2022.3196330. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 35925854.

•  O'Hara NB, Lee MH, Juhász C, Asano E, Jeong JW. Diffusion tractography predicts propagated high-frequency activity during epileptic spasms. Epilepsia. 2022 Jul;63(7):1787-1798. doi: 10.1111/epi.17251. Epub 2022 Apr 21. PubMed PMID: 35388455; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9283246.

• Mitsuhashi T, Sonoda M, Firestone E, Sakakura K, Jeong JW, Luat AF, Sood S, Asano E. Temporally and functionally distinct large-scale brain network dynamics supporting task switching. Neuroimage. 2022 Jul 1;254:119126. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119126. Epub 2022 Mar 22. PubMed PMID: 35331870; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9173207.

• Jeong JW, Lee MH, Fernandes N, Deol S, Mody S, Arslanturk S, Chinnam RB, Tan S. Neonatal encephalopathy prediction of poor outcome with diffusion-weighted imaging connectome and fixel-based analysis. Pediatr Res. 2022 May;91(6):1505-1515. doi: 10.1038/s41390-021-01550-2. Epub 2021 May 8. PubMed PMID: 33966055; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9053106.

• Johnson EL, Yin Q, O'Hara NB, Tang L, Jeong JW, Asano E, Ofen N. Dissociable oscillatory theta signatures of memory formation in the developing brain. Curr Biol. 2022 Apr 11;32(7):1457-1469.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2022.01.053. Epub 2022 Feb 15. PubMed PMID: 35172128; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9007830.

• Mitsuhashi T, Sonoda M, Sakakura K, Jeong JW, Luat AF, Sood S, Asano E. Dynamic tractography-based localization of spike sources and animation of spike propagations. Epilepsia. 2021 Oct;62(10):2372-2384. doi: 10.1111/epi.17025. Epub 2021 Jul 29. PubMed PMID: 34324194; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8487933.

• Jeong JW, Lee MH, O'Hara N, Juhász C, Asano E. Prediction of baseline expressive and receptive language function in children with focal epilepsy using diffusion tractography-based deep learning network. Epilepsy Behav. 2021 Apr;117:107909. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.107909. Epub 2021 Mar 16. PubMed PMID: 33740493; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8035310.

• Banerjee S, Dong M, Lee MH, O'Hara N, Juhasz C, Asano E, Jeong JW. Deep Relational Reasoning for the Prediction of Language Impairment and Postoperative Seizure Outcome Using Preoperative DWI Connectome Data of Children With Focal Epilepsy. IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2021 Mar;40(3):793-804. doi: 10.1109/TMI.2020.3036933. Epub 2021 Mar 2. PubMed PMID: 33166251; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8544001.

• Lee MH, O'Hara N, Sonoda M, Kuroda N, Juhasz C, Asano E, Dong M, Jeong JW. Novel Deep Learning Network Analysis of Electrical Stimulation Mapping-Driven Diffusion MRI Tractography to Improve Preoperative Evaluation of Pediatric Epilepsy. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2020 Nov;67(11):3151-3162. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2020.2977531. Epub 2020 Mar 2. PubMed PMID: 32142416; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7598774.

• Silverstein BH, Asano E, Sugiura A, Sonoda M, Lee MH, Jeong JW. Dynamic tractography: Integrating cortico-cortical evoked potentials and diffusion imaging. Neuroimage. 2020 Jul 15;215:116763. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116763. Epub 2020 Apr 12. PubMed PMID: 32294537; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7292749. 

• Sugiura A, Silverstein BH, Jeong JW, Nakai Y, Sonoda M, Motoi H, Asano E. Four-dimensional map of direct effective connectivity from posterior visual areas. Neuroimage. 2020 Apr 15;210:116548. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116548. Epub 2020 Jan 17. PubMed PMID: 31958582; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7054169.

• Lee MH, O'Hara NB, Behen ME, Jeong JW. Altered efficiency of white matter connections for language function in children with language disorder. Brain Lang. 2020 Apr;203:104743. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2020.104743. Epub 2020 Jan 28. PubMed PMID: 32004807; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9022213.

• Lee MH, O'Hara NB, Motoi H, Luat AF, Juhász C, Sood S, Asano E, Jeong JW. Novel diffusion tractography methodology using Kalman filter prediction to improve preoperative benefit-risk analysis in pediatric epilepsy surgery. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2019 Jul 5;:1-13. doi: 10.3171/2019.4.PEDS1994. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 31277057; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9080971.

• Xu H, Dong M, Lee MH, OrHara N, Asano E, Jeong JW. Objective Detection of Eloquent Axonal Pathways to Minimize Postoperative Deficits in Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery using Diffusion Tractography and Convolutional Neural Networks. IEEE Trans Med Imaging. 2019 Feb 27;. doi: 10.1109/TMI.2019.2902073. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30835220; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9016495.

• Lee MH, O'Hara NB, Nakai Y, Luat AF, Juhasz C, Sood S, Asano E, Jeong JW. Prediction of postoperative deficits using an improved diffusion-weighted imaging maximum a posteriori probability analysis in pediatric epilepsy surgery. J Neurosurg Pediatr. 2019 Feb 22;:1-12. doi: 10.3171/2018.11.PEDS18601. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 30797207; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9019725.

• Nakai Y, Sugiura A, Brown EC, Sonoda M, Jeong JW, Rothermel R, Luat AF, Sood S, Asano E. Four-dimensional functional cortical maps of visual and auditory language: Intracranial recording. Epilepsia. 2019 Feb;60(2):255-267. doi: 10.1111/epi.14648. Epub 2019 Feb 1. PubMed PMID: 30710356; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6365188.

• Motoi H, Miyakoshi M, Abel TJ, Jeong JW, Nakai Y, Sugiura A, Luat AF, Agarwal R, Sood S, Asano E. Phase-amplitude coupling between interictal high-frequency activity and slow waves in epilepsy surgery. Epilepsia. 2018 Oct;59(10):1954-1965. doi: 10.1111/epi.14544. Epub 2018 Aug 26. PubMed PMID: 30146766; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6204289.

• Kim JA, Jeong JW, Behen ME, Pilli VK, Luat A, Chugani HT, Juhász C. Metabolic correlates of cognitive function in children with unilateral Sturge-Weber syndrome: Evidence for regional functional reorganization and crowding. Hum Brain Mapp. 2018 Apr;39(4):1596-1606. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23937. Epub 2017 Dec 23. PubMed PMID: 29274110; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5847469.

• John F, Maqbool M, Jeong JW, Agarwal R, Behen ME, Juhász C. Deep cerebral vein expansion with metabolic and neurocognitive recovery in Sturge-Weber syndrome. Ann Clin Transl Neurol. 2018 Apr;5(4):502-506. doi: 10.1002/acn3.546. eCollection 2018 Apr. PubMed PMID: 29687028; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5899918