Xi Chen, PhD, was trained in magnetic resonance physics, especially magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) sequence development, during his PhD. Since joining the National Institute on Drug Abuse, his research interest has been on the development and application of advanced MRI/MRS techniques in psychotic disorders, particularly neurotransmitter and functional MRI in brain default-mode network.

After serving as a supporting MR scientist for preclinical neurology studies for more than one year at Dartmouth College, he returned to the field of psychotic disorders with extended interests in using multimodal MRI/MRS to study energy, neurotransmission, and functional and structural modulations of psychotic disorders.